★★★☆
You could argue that these are increasingly mature times for artists, where delicate prowess and tight production take priority over the frantic kineticism of a decade past.
Ash & Ice perfectly reflects this atmosphere. It’s a different beast to earlier Kills albums like Midnight Boom; the same fuzzy guitar licks and punchy attitude are still there, but there’s also a level of sophistication.
The title acts as a monument to the creative duality of Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince. They’ve forged a career by integrating their different influences: the fusion of a bubbly drum machine with crunchy neo-Western guitar licks should sound confronting and experimental at best, but here it effortlessly saunters along, buoyed by the confidence of a band that realises the virtue of subtlety.
Where ‘Bitter Fruit’almost falls on the classic rock side of the spectrum, ‘Days Of Why And How’whisks straight back to a contemporary indie-pop feel. ‘Hard Habit To Break’is the evolution of earlier tracks like ‘Cheap And Cheerful’: at once stylistically antithetic, yet born from the same unyielding power. Mosshart’s vocals are just as powerful and passionate as ever, but there’s an air of melancholy to them.
Ash & Ice feels like a natural progression: minimalist, as always, but polished.
Ash & IcebyThe Killsis out now on Domino.
