Kill for Love's spacious electro-synth pop casts an alluring gloom over the after-party. Listeners will not want to leave. Grand and foreboding, the record is replete with the kind of pulsing, nocturnal Euro-disco that can carry you off deep into the night.
Johnny Jewel's evocative soundscapes are well-suited for Ruth Radelet's thin, dimly-cast vocals. The multi-instrumentalist indulges in spectral beats, with founding guitarist and synth-man Adam Miller pushing the songs through dark, glossy, New Order-inspired territory. The promise of the band's 2007 release, Night Drive, is fulfilled here with icy studio precision.
The album opens with a cover of Neil Young's "Into the Black," foretelling the descent into enveloping shadows. The engrossing run of songs includes the excellent title track, "Lady," and "A Matter of Time." The album turns in at 77 minutes, and while the music is refracted through a narrow prism, it never feels like too much. There are changes in tempo, rhythm, and texture, keeping the record sounding like a consistent, if not cryptic, whole. By underscoring tragedy and romance with masterful atmospherics, Kill for Love is a downright cinematic pleasure.
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