The Kills – ‘God Games’ album review: the spiritual sounds of rock
The last decade has made it increasingly challenging to reinvent the usual duo formula. Even though the aftermath of The White Stripes may have been cute for the first few years, the massive wave of acts like The Black Keys has made the idea of two people onstage delivering their music to the public little more than a solid gimmick. Although The Kills were there during the reign of duo acts, how did they spend their time adapting?
Answer: making some of the most aggressive music of their career. Then again, it’s hard to call an album like God’s Games on the level of heavy metal by any stretch. Rather than focus on the raw tones that other bands try to squeeze out of their instruments, Allison Mosshart and Jamie Hince spend most of the album getting in tune with the spiritual side, either through the lyrical end or the instrumental choices.
Starting from the opener ‘New York’, the band create sonic textures that are borderline spooky depending on who’s listening to it, taking the raw sounds of distorted guitars and keyboards and making something that could fit in a decent B-rated horror movie. While the tone may come off as cheeky by some, the real power behind the songs is how well the instruments play off what Mosshart is getting at in the lyrics.
Searching for salvation from the pressures of reality, tracks like ‘103’ and ‘My Girls My Girls’ explore the different ways Mosshart and Hince can achieve this kind of happiness, either through the people around them or getting lost outside of their commitments. Even though the album might be looking to escape in some respects, the production helps keep everything rooted to the ground.
Working with their trademark producer Paul Epworth, the sound of the record somehow manages to fit everything right where it needs to be in the mix. Although artists like Jack White have taken the garage rock style every which way outside of his work with The White Stripes, there’s nothing wrong with having a clear lane to make kickass tunes in.
While there are sentiments about finding God throughout the album, there are also hints that show the band questioning their faith in humanity as well, equating the title track to God playing a matador slowly leading someone into the subsequent trial of their lives. Even though most fans may take a cynical approach to the religious-esque structure, this isn’t the equivalent of Christian rock or anything.
Taking cues from the old school of Christian music, much of the album feels like the band is channelling the kind of spiritual chants that were present at the turn of the 19th century, using the American slave chants to evoke a sense of biblical passion. While there might not be an end in sight for the hard times, the sound of their music is a reminder that things will one day get better, as evidenced by the album closing on an optimistic note on ‘Better Days’.
That said, there are more than a handful of sections on the album that can be more than a bit forgettable. As much as the tone of the music sustains itself to the end, tracks like ‘Kingdom Come’ often feel more like stop gaps in the track listing rather than fully fleshed-out pieces of the story they’re trying to tell.
Even with a touch of filler, The Kills have sculpted a perfect way to grow out of the customary duo and blossom into something new. It’s no fun resting on laurels, and if you want to find the answer to your problems, it’s sometimes best to go into that studio with your instruments and see if God is captured within the grooves.
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