Blues-rock riffs, reggae beats, post-punk tendencies and sultry vocals; the reuniting of Jamie Hince and Allison Mosshart was well worth the three year wait. Blood Pressures is the forth studio album released by the pair since the debut of their band The Kills in 2003, and with the energy and creativity that these two bring to their music how could it possibly fail?
Well, apart the fact that Mosshart had been throwing all her creative energies into working with Jack White and The Dead Whether, and Hince was focusing on his marriage to a certain super model. Being so far removed from each other I had my doubts that they would jump the creative divide and produce an album that could live up to their previous collaborative efforts. I, however, was wrong. Blood Pressures sees the pair slip easily back into what they do best; that is stick to their basic blues-rock formula.
‘Sticking to the basic blues-rock formula’ could so easily be considered an insult, but you get the feeling that insults would simply bounce off The Kills. Their carefully sculpted disarray of sounds welcomes in the lovers and gives the middle finger to the haters. They are able to weave the most unlikely influences into their tracks in such a way that when someone asks you what kind of music you’re listening to, the only answer you can give is simply “The Kills”.
Blood Pressures references everything from reggae to Britpop, its lyrics range from insightful to nonsensical, it switches from aggressive guitar to Piaf-esk warbling, and is a collaboration between two people at very different stages in their lives. It is truly an album of oxymorons and yet, it seems to work perfectly.