The Kills released their new album Ash and Ice on June 3, and The Record Exchange has it on CD, vinyl and limited-edition indie-store-only blue/red swirl vinyl!
Over their almost decade-and-a-half career, The Kills have released four records. Each one a restless, reckless enigmatic art statement that bristled with tension, anxiety, sex, unstudied cool and winking ennui, yet not one of them sounded like the previous one. Ash & Ice is the follow up to 2011’s critically lauded Blood Pressures and was five years in the making in part due to Jamie Hince’s five hand surgeries, which resulted in him having to re-learn how to play guitar with a permanently damaged finger.
It was during Hince’s recuperation from surgery that he first started sketching out what would become the songs for the album. To shake up the writing process, Hince booked a solo trip on the infamous Trans-Siberian Express for inspiration while Alison Mosshart, now residing in Nashville, wrote some of the most affecting, poetically candid lyrics that she ever has, painting word pictures that mine the dangerous terrain between romantic obsession, prophecy and tough love. Where previous albums had an air of detachment and emotional austerity, underpinned by an uneasy self-awareness and unexpressed anger, the 13 songs on Ash & Ice are more understated, less tempestuous and more affecting because of that, exposing the kind of push-pull you feel when you find yourself in a complicated but all-consuming relationship. Ash & Ice is The Kills at their emotionally charged, arresting best. Prepare to be slayed.
We’re giving away a copy of the album on vinyl! To enter the drawing, send an email with the subject “The Kills” HERE by midnight Sunday, June 12. We will draw a name and notify the winner on June 13.
* One entry per person, NOT per email address. If you have 16 email addresses and you enter with each address, we’ll just delete 15 of them. We have the technology. To be eligible to win, you must live in the Boise metro area and be able to pick up your prize at the store.
