Send "The Kills " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 There's a cute little joke lurking in the background of Alfonso Cuarón's otherwise bleak dystopian thriller Children of Men. The film is set in the year 2027, and at one point a deejay overheard on a car radio introduces "a blast from the past all the way back to 2003," before spinning the Kills' country-blues serenade "Wait". Even if 2003 was only eight years ago, for the Kills, it might as well be 24, given how far Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince have been able to push the limited parameters of their guitar/drum-machine set-up and develop an identity increasingly distinct from their formative junior-Royal-Trux roots.But even as the Kills have gone from covering Captain Beefheart on their debut 2002 EP, Black Rooster, to teaming up with Spank Rock producer XXXChange for 2008's electro-fied Midnight Boom, Mosshart and Hince have always conveyed a sense of anxiety and nervous energy through their music. And the duo's lusty performances eagerly play up the ambiguity of their platonic partnership. It's a quality that defines them as much as Mosshart's feverish moan, Hince's hand-slashing guitar riffs, and the synthetic beats-- just Google "the Kills + sexual tension." And even though the will-they/won't-they question has been definitively tilted toward the latter, that doesn't mean the Kills can't continue to summon that frisson through roleplay. But on Blood Pressures, there's a creeping sense that their individual preoccupations outside the band-- Mosshart as Jack White's feisty foil in the Dead Weather; Hince as the paparazzi-hounded fiancé of the world's most famous supermodel-- has diffused some of that intensity, as the duo attempts to evolve its dynamic. Sonically, Blood Pressures retreats from Midnight Boom's dancefloor directives and energized, in-the-pocket pop. The new album feels at once a return to the Kills' beatbox-blues origins as well an attempt to broaden their palette with more sensitive, intimate turns. Notwithstanding the motorik garage-rock of "Heart Is a Beating Drum" and brash, big-beat stomp "Nail in My Coffin", this album will present Hince and Mosshart with fewer opportunities to stare each other down suggestively on stage in predatory, fuck-or-fight fashion. Whether it's the swampy reggae groove of "Satellite", the clock-punching blues-rock prowl "Damned if She Do", or the mid-album tandem of Hince's Lennon-esque reverie "Wild Charms" and Mosshart's slow-simmering answer track "DNA", there's an overarching sense of restraint and resignation that's disappointing in light of how fearless and adrenalized the band sounded on Midnight Boom....full text |
| Culturebully |
| Relationships have a tendency of continually changing; a difference which is only made that much more apparent given significant spans of time. It’s been three years since Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart released their last album together, 2008′s Midnight Bloom, and during the years that followed Mosshart focused much of her creativity on her work with the Dead Weather while Hince devoted his heart to another Moss. In reconvening, Blood Pressures has become a test of their ongoing relationship: the production gaging the cohesion between two friends and musical allies while the outcome serves as a diagnosis of the present health of the Kills. If you were to base early speculation of what the album were to sound like on interviews alone, it might have appeared a mess, with the pair seeming even that much more removed from one another: Hince basking in Roxy Music’s catalog during the time of the album’s recording while Mosshart was occupying herself with Johnny Cash and the “Southern blues world.” Almost immediately, however, any lingering trepidation concerning the cohesiveness of the duo is quashed as “Future Starts Slow” winds the album up musically while heavily showcasing their vocal chemistry....full text |
| Guardian |
| You might think the Kills have a lot to get excited about these days – hit TV shows bombarding them with royalty cheques, guitarist Jamie Hince preparing to marry the world's most famous supermodel – but you wouldn't know it from their latest album. With one or two exceptions, on Blood Pressures they stick to their tried-and-tested blues-rock formula. That need not be a slur. Opener "Future Starts Slow" makes a decent case for sludgy guitars, sultry vocals and straightforward song structure. The moments of departure, such as Piaf-referencing "The Last Goodbye", are curiously the least successful. Maybe playing it safe in times of excitement is the Kills' best bet....full text |
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