The Kills announce their sixth studio album, God Games, set for release on October 27 via Domino, along with sharing latest single '103'.
Across the 12 tracks of God Games, the duo of Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince plunge into new sonic territory with this hypnotic, propulsive album while maintaining the band’s signature, seductive bravado.
Following last month’s critically acclaimed dual single ‘New York/LA Hex’, the album’s announcement is accompanied by single ‘103’. Where ‘LA Hex’ focused its gaze on the emotional and interpersonal realities of modern life in Los Angeles, ‘103’ (as in Fahrenheit) highlights the brutal reality of daunting uninhabitability through the lens of a dark twisted love song – Mosshart croons cutting lyrics like “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.”
Listen to ‘103’ by The Kills on the Premier League Playlist on Spotify.
Shot in storied rock/fashion photographer and metaverse pioneer Steven Sebring’s custom-built 3D film studio, the video for ‘103’ sees The Kills underneath the glare of an angry, imposing sun. Decked out in tanning goggles, solar eclipse glasses and matching reflective suits, Mosshart and Hince move with precision, at home in the chaos of high summer heat.
God Games centres the primal call-and-response between Mosshart’s full body vocal catharsis and Hince’s swaggering, guillotine-smooth guitar transmissions. Stretching the boundaries of the pair’s signature sound, they chose to write from new perspectives. The results find the duo writing primarily on piano for the first time, incorporating innovative electronic and brass textures, crystal clear production and deeply human lyrics, as well as a collaboration with the Compton Kidz Club Choir on ‘LA Hex’ and ‘My Girls My Girls’. Writing began in 2019, the duo decamping to an old church to record the album with Academy and GRAMMY Award-winning producer Paul Epworth [Adele, Paul McCartney], who was their very first soundman in 2002.
The Kills also announce today what will be a truly special Halloween show at PRYZM in Kingston, London. Details of this Banquet Records outstore performance are available here.
The duo have tallied hundreds of millions of streams across albums such as Keep On Your Mean Side [2003], No Wow [2005], Midnight Boom [2008], and Blood Pressures [2011]. Most recently, Ash & Ice [2016] spawned fan favourites, including ‘Doing It To Death’ and ‘Heart of a Dog’.
In 2023, they turn their focus ahead. They’re the rare force of nature whose music leaves any onlooker awestruck, and God Games promises to further etch the marks they’ve made on bending genres and pushing musical boundaries.
