After five years and five hand surgeries, Jamie Hince and The Kills are back with a new record.
Both bandmates exhibited a remarkable amount of fortitude in writing this new record: Hinceâwho now has a permanently damaged fingerâliterally had to reteach himself guitar. Alison Mosshartâs own endurance and work ethic is also inhuman. Speaking to Nerdistâs Matt Grosinger less than a month ago, The Killsâ frontwoman admitted that she was âthree years behindâ on sleep. âThereâs really not much talking,â she said, describing the songwriting process, âthe boys are playing and I am just scribbling lyrics as fast I canââand that was in regard to her other band, the Jack White-affiliated supergroup, The Dead Weather.
Somehow, both Hince and Mosshart have pulled together the mangled tendrils of mind and body (literally, in Hinceâs case) to prepare The Killsâ fifth album, Ash & Iceâto be released June 3. The band also shared the LPâs first single, âDoing It To Death,â and the accompanying video (see above).
âBaby save it, weâre wasted,â Mosshart sings. âI know we gotta slow it down.â Those lyrics and the songâs title are evocative in more than one way, but considering The Killsâ superhuman efforts to create the record, itâs perfectly reasonable to interpret the track as an ode to exhaustion. Indeed, the videoâdirected by Wendy Morganâfeatures a stylized cortege weaving through a cemetery. Garbed in black, Mosshart and Hince sit lounging on top of a hearse, marching to death to the songâs stomping pace. Mosshart later appears singing from a church pulpit, blithely smoking a cigarette and covered in tired indifference. But not even exhaustion could prevent the duo from writing another goddam great song.
Check out the video above and let us know what you think of it in the comments below.
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IMAGE:Â Kenneth Cappello