“I want to be crazy/cause you’re stupid baby when you’re sane,” sings Alison Mosshart, lead singer of The Kills.
Mosshart is unleashing her inner Kerouac and rockstar on The Kills’ third full-length album, “Midnight Boom.”
If her lyrics are any indication, she and fellow bandmate guitarist Jamie Hince are living the lifestyle accordingly. Mosshart sings of drugs, nightlife and crazy antics.
In real life the British-born Hince is engaged to model Kate Moss. Uh-oh.
But even if their lives are in turmoil, the two seem to be hitting their stride as a band. The working formula is Mosshart’s lyrics layered on top of Hince’s infectious guitar riffs and electronic drum beats.
The band’s sound is garage punk, with a splash of electronica.
Unlike 2003’s “Keep on Your Mean Side,” and 2005’s “No Wow,” this offering relies less on hard blues riffs and more on instrumentation, flirting more with pop New Wave.
The first single, “U.R.A. Fever,” indicates the band might have been influenced by early Talking Heads with their instrumentation.
The Kills hopefully won’t be caught under the fold with so many lo-fi duos coming to rise lately. The White Stripes have better songs; The Fiery Furnaces have the indie allure.
But The Kills just have that genuine attitude – the snarling lip, kick in the pants, corner booth of a dive bar attitude.
“M.E.X.I.C.O.” is a harder, fast-paced track about the pitfalls of taking ecstasy below the border.
The shadowy “Black Balloon,” has an unforgettable chorus just might get the band some airplay.
There are a few misses buried on the B-side, but The Kills have not done any better than “Midnight Boom” and probably cannot.
“Midnight Boom” was released March 10 by Domino Records.
Graham Beckwith can be reached at [email protected].
