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February 01, 2005
Dead Before Sunset
the Kills - Jewel Thief
Here's a weird one for you: VV sounds like she's singing over top of a guitar accompaniment sampled from Harry Smith's American Anthology of Folk Music, minus the wire-tap drums in the background. But then, for the huge chorus, all pretense at replicating a circa 1931 Mississippi porchside sing-along disappears. VV's voice takes on a husky, slanderous tone, as she slams the jewel thief (supported by the male singer, Hotel) with accusations of equine greed: 'you've got a million horses at your door/you've got a feeling that you'll need a million more'. The whole thing is vaguely debauched and has a nice Prohibition feel to it. (also, this song reminds me, there's an amazing story by Aimee Bender called 'The Ring', in her collection 'The Girl in the Flammable Skirt', which is about a jewel thief and his wife. Seek it out if you can)
the Kills are about to release a new LP, entitled 'No Wow', on March 8th (you can preorder it here), and, judging by 'At the Back of the Shell', (which Matt Fluxblog posted a few weeks ago) it's going to be very, very good. 'Jewel Thief', however, is from the 'Fried My Little Brains' single, which you can buy right here.
Posted by matt at February 1, 2005 08:00 AM