The Kills - 'No Wow' (Domino) Released 28/02/05

The Kills’ Alison and Jamie may have given each other the sweet monikers VV and Hotel, but there is  absolutely nothing syrupy about their second album. ‘No Wow’ is a lean, edgy and lusciously dark execution of fearless, blues-tinged electronic rock.

‘Love Is A Deserter's' chopped guitar opening is propelled into a drum machine led, electro-rock intrigue reminiscent of Primal Scream’s vowel-less wonder ‘Exterminator’. VV relentlessly beseeches “Get the guns out/get the guns out/your love is a deserter", her simmering anger fuelled by a burning desire for revenge.

 Whilst a decent enough single, ‘The Good Ones’ is the album’s low point, its refrain “Did you get the real good ones/did you get the good ones?” failing to mask a feeling of unfulfilled blandness. However, the fact this is an isolated complaint for a record based upon a minimalist, stripped down sound is proof enough of its worth.

Handclaps and slow, fuzzy guitar provides the basis of ‘At The Back Of The Shell’, a lyrically superb, eerie slow-burner: You’ll never get to heaven with your shirt all torn/ cut through your finger, cut you loose/lost a lot of blood/ lost a lot of cool. Hotel’s soft, wistful backing vocals perfectly compliment VV’s seductive drawl that recalls anyone (without imitation) from Nico to PJ Harvey to Karen O.

 Whilst VV perfectly frames the themes of anger, desire and revenge that form the album’s underbelly, she conveys equally well the emotional yearning flowing through the quite beautiful ‘Rodeo Town’.

Fans of ‘Keep Your Mean Side’ will be delighted with this second offering, whilst the uninitiated may need a few listens and a little patience to get to the heart of this record. Written in less than three weeks and recorded in only months, the result is a raw, passionate album bereft of creative indulgence and brimming with off-the-cuff inspiration.  Definitely wow.