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CHROMATICS - KILL FOR LOVE
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ARTIST:
TITLE:
Kill For Love
LABEL:
CATNO:
IDIB38LP
STYLE:
FORMAT:
Vinyl record
DESCRIPTION:
2x12" Synth Pop, Italo Flava & Nu Disco -LtdEdition Red Vinyl Copy - It took nearly five years for Chromatics to follow up 2007's acclaimed Night Drive (an expanded, analog-remastered edition of which appeared in 2010).
Despite that interval -- and unlike any previous full-length under the volatile Chromatics banner -- Kill for Love is very much an extension of the sound and approach of its predecessor. It also runs nearly 92 minutes in its full digital version (only 78 in physical formats, with space limitations necessitating the omission of epic ambient closer "No Escape").
That's quite a lot of music, even if you've been waiting half a decade for it, but it feels entirely warranted, if not flat-out necessary in this case, because this is torpid, achingly gradual music that requires time and patience to achieve its fullest impact -- and because this is the kind of album you don't so much listen to as live inside while it's playing. Anyone familiar with Night Drive or the other Italians Do It Better-associated projects of Chromatics' prime aesthetic mover Johnny Jewel (Glass Candy, Desire, Symmetry) can probably intuit what's in store here: atmospheric, deeply stylish aural landscapes in pop song silhouettes, and darkly glistening electronic "pop" infused with post-punk's steely, nihilistic ennui. Kill for Love feels in many ways like an ultimate, quintessential expression of this aesthetic, in part because it creates a properly expansive context, and also because not a minute is wasted -- it maintains an impressively high level of quality and and emotional resonance throughout -- but particularly in how it blurs the distinction between "proper" songs and the sort of moody, cinematic instrumental (or nearly instrumental) pieces which form the bulk of the album's latter half almost to the point of irrelevance. One corollary to this is that the more overtly pop moments, clustered in the first third, here don't quite "pop" like they could -- with slightly different production choices, songs like "Lady" and the title track might be instant synth pop earworms; here, draped in haze and analog crackle, they're shyer to reveal their charms, though Ruth Radelet's hushed, mournful melodies do seep in and grow addictive with repeated listens. Contrasting Radelet's glassy-eyed clarity, a heavily processed male voice takes over on the brooding "Streets Will Never Look the Same" and "Running from the Sun," recalling the bleary, washed-out vibe of Sweden's Radio Dept. Once again, Chromatics use a cover song in a pivotal role here, opening the record with a stripped-down, deadpan take on Neil Young's "Hey Hey My My," dubbed "Into the Black" (although it's closer in tone to Young's more somber "Out of the Blue" acoustic version) -- it's a strange, almost anti-hip choice, and somewhat inscrutable as an opener, but as with just about everything else here, it is inarguably effective, and starkly beautiful in its simplicity.
Despite that interval -- and unlike any previous full-length under the volatile Chromatics banner -- Kill for Love is very much an extension of the sound and approach of its predecessor. It also runs nearly 92 minutes in its full digital version (only 78 in physical formats, with space limitations necessitating the omission of epic ambient closer "No Escape").
That's quite a lot of music, even if you've been waiting half a decade for it, but it feels entirely warranted, if not flat-out necessary in this case, because this is torpid, achingly gradual music that requires time and patience to achieve its fullest impact -- and because this is the kind of album you don't so much listen to as live inside while it's playing. Anyone familiar with Night Drive or the other Italians Do It Better-associated projects of Chromatics' prime aesthetic mover Johnny Jewel (Glass Candy, Desire, Symmetry) can probably intuit what's in store here: atmospheric, deeply stylish aural landscapes in pop song silhouettes, and darkly glistening electronic "pop" infused with post-punk's steely, nihilistic ennui. Kill for Love feels in many ways like an ultimate, quintessential expression of this aesthetic, in part because it creates a properly expansive context, and also because not a minute is wasted -- it maintains an impressively high level of quality and and emotional resonance throughout -- but particularly in how it blurs the distinction between "proper" songs and the sort of moody, cinematic instrumental (or nearly instrumental) pieces which form the bulk of the album's latter half almost to the point of irrelevance. One corollary to this is that the more overtly pop moments, clustered in the first third, here don't quite "pop" like they could -- with slightly different production choices, songs like "Lady" and the title track might be instant synth pop earworms; here, draped in haze and analog crackle, they're shyer to reveal their charms, though Ruth Radelet's hushed, mournful melodies do seep in and grow addictive with repeated listens. Contrasting Radelet's glassy-eyed clarity, a heavily processed male voice takes over on the brooding "Streets Will Never Look the Same" and "Running from the Sun," recalling the bleary, washed-out vibe of Sweden's Radio Dept. Once again, Chromatics use a cover song in a pivotal role here, opening the record with a stripped-down, deadpan take on Neil Young's "Hey Hey My My," dubbed "Into the Black" (although it's closer in tone to Young's more somber "Out of the Blue" acoustic version) -- it's a strange, almost anti-hip choice, and somewhat inscrutable as an opener, but as with just about everything else here, it is inarguably effective, and starkly beautiful in its simplicity.
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Last FM Information on Chromatics
Please note the information is done on a artist keyword match and data is provided by LastFM.
Chromatics was an electronic band based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The band consisted of Ruth Radelet (vocals, guitar, synthesizer), Adam Miller (guitar), Johnny Jewel (synthesizer, production) and Nat Walker (drums, synthesizer). The band shifted from a post-punk sound to one inspired by 1980s synthpop and Italo disco around 2006. The band's most acclaimed albums are "Night Drive" (2007) and "Kill for Love" (2012).
The would-be next album, "Dear Tommy" (2016), was scrapped, and was meant to be re-worked for a subsequent release, however the fate of album is unclear, as on August 10, 2021, Ruth Radelet, Adam Miller and Nat Walker announced the breaking up of Chromatics. Later that day the label, Italians Do It Better, and Johnny Jewel's representative, also confirmed the breakup. Their last album is "Closer to Grey" (2019), which has a companion album, "Faded Now" (2020).
The band originally hailed from Seattle and formed in 2002 as a quartet featuring vocalist Adam Miller, drummer Hannah Blilie, guitarist Devin Welch, and bassist Michelle Nolan. That lineup debuted in 2002 with a Calvin Johnson-produced 7" on Gold Standard Laboratories -- a split with Die Monitr Batss -- and followed with the similarly GSL-issued Chrome Rats vs Basement Ruts LP.
While Chrome Rats was critically hailed, Chromatics couldn't keep it together, and Miller was soon the only member in good standing (Blilie, Welch, and Nolan went on to form the similar-sounding Shoplifting). Unworried, Miller added guitar and drum programming to his vocal duties and tapped bassist Nat Sahlstrom for the 2003 GSL 7" Ice Hatchets. That was followed by the February 2004 full-length Plaster Hounds (which featured the percussion work of Get Hustle's Ron Avila), and a repositioning of the Chromatics axis to greater reflect its dub and no wave influences.
This lineup too dissolved and Adam Miller relocated Chromatics to Portland, teaming up with Glass Candy's Johnny Jewel, Ruth Radelet on lead vocals, and Nat Walker on percussion and saxophone. The new lineup of Chromatics had a more lo-fi electronic sound as opposed to the earlier dub and no-wave sounds. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.