Blood Pressures
The Age
Friday April 1, 2011
Blood Pressures The Kills (Domino/EMI) Rating: 3/5DESPITE what seems (on paper) at least to be some very appealing elements, the noisy London blues-punk duo the Kills have always remained something of an acquired taste. And based on their very good fourth album, an elongated break appears to have invigorated Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince. Now the are-they-aren't-they intrigue has dissipated (Hince dates Kate Moss), their music seems all the better for it. In fact, Mosshart has clearly absorbed plenty on her travails with Jack White in the Dead Weather. The songwriting, for instance, has matured and advanced significantly. Blood Pressures is their most expansive and arguably their best album yet. The piano ballad The Last Goodbye is strong enough evidence of that. Elsewhere, Nail in My Coffin is catchy and accessible. And the single, Satellite, is a fuzzy retro-jam. Hince's almost-trademark thick guitar riffs are there but Mosshart's snarling vocals are less frequently buried in the mix. And they are augmented by choral backing vocals and almost "tribal" percussion. Yes, it's a cheesy adage but in this case apparently true: absence makes the heart grow fonder.
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