The British-American duo’s dark crooner rock speaks better than ever about the current realities of life in LA
The duo’s sixth album was a long time coming. A full seven years have passed since the last release: singer Alison Mosshart and her guitar partner Jamie Hince were slowed down by the pandemic. But now: In 2019, recordings began in a converted church together with producer Paul Epworth (Adele, Paul McCartney), who had already moved the controls for their debut film in 2002. Contrary to their usual practice, Mosshart and Hince had previously designed almost all of the pieces on the piano and only set up a sound framework during studio work. As usual, Mosshart plays the dark rock crooner on this album.
In the interaction with Hince as an aggressive, rhythmic side whip, an interesting “call and response” always arises. His playing has the same roughness as her voice and he often uses strong electronic alienation, as in “LA Hex”. “My Girls My Girls” sounds like a hit on noise, “Wasterpiece” has something of the late New Order, and when Mosshart sings on “Bullet Sound”: “The way you’re looking at me – wow!”, she underlines thus the self-confident lyrical background noise of the record.
Sometimes kinky, sometimes countryesque, the past years are scanned for scars and confusion. And, yes, it’s also about the dark sides of love (“103”): “Stick with me under the last palm tree / and sip a little water from the dirty fountain meant to be / the sum of it all”.