The Kills
Ash & Ice

THE REVIEW

I didn't expect much from the new Kills album. The duo composed of American vocalist Alison Mosshart aka VV and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Jamie Hince aka Hotel was certainly one of the greatest next big things at the beginning of the last decade when, with two albums like 'Keep On Your Mean Side' and 'No Wow', they somehow redefined the concept of 'indie rock' with new musical and aesthetic rules and played a prominent and leading role in that explosion and revival of garage music.

In a certain time, let's say they gave life to a new model, a sort of 'stereotype' that has served as a reference point over the years for many bands and musicians who have been influenced differently by their style and approach to the audience and their way of appearing on stage. This didn't necessarily happen for bands and musicians who play or played 'garage' music, but for artists of different genres. This is also because it would be simplistic or misleading to consider the Kills simply as a garage duo. There is indeed a fine line today that separates garage music from pop music. It is a feature of the so-called 'indie era', I would say, and if you consider this, the indie, as a concept already outdated, well, this changes little for what concerns this mixture.

I didn't expect much from this album, but in the end, I have to say that the first Kills album in five years (the last one, 'Blood Pressures', indeed came out in 2011) sounds much better than I could have imagined. 'Ash & Ice' (Domino Recordings) is proof that the duo, after overcoming every possible attempt to always stay at the crest of the wave, having thus redefined their style several times and album after album, has finally made peace with itself and acquired as such that formula they wanted to propose since the beginning. The Kills, like it or not, have nevertheless offered their well-defined style, and now, after trying to renew themselves and experimenting with increasingly pop sounds with the addition of electronic elements and almost always failing to propose something 'new' or at least convincing, now with this album, recorded between Los Angeles and the Electric Lady Studios of New York City (with co-production by Jon O'Mahoney), they have returned home.

Preceded by three singles, 'Ash & Ice' picks up all those patterns that made the duo famous. 'Bitter Fruit' and 'Impossible Tracks' sound in a typically garage and rock and roll style that is also typical of the BRMC, 'Heart of a Dog', 'Siberian Nights', and 'Doing It To Death' (practically the three singles) are undoubtedly the catchiest episodes together with 'Whirling Eye', in fact, the most pop episodes of the album characterized by groovy and enveloping vocals and a mix of bluesy sounds and foxy electric guitars. 'Hum For Your Buzz' and 'Days of Why and How' showcase the qualities of vocalist Alison Mosshart, who draws inspiration from the heritage of soul music and has that tremendously and typically sexy approach, which is then markedly recognizable also in the ballad 'That Love' and in 'Let It Drop', two songs that are practically entirely built on this characteristic.

I don't know if bands like the Strokes, the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Interpol, and the Kills themselves somehow sparked a sort of revolution at the beginning of the 2000s. It is undeniable, however, that they have influenced and continue to influence many new bands and musicians, just as over time, those who are recognized and considered the 'masters' and greats of rock and roll from the sixties and seventies have done and continue to do. Let's say that if it wasn't a true revolution, it was then a sort of 'white' revolution, but still with a black soul. A soul soul.