It’s been three years since Kisses released its first album, The Heart of the Nightlife, and in that time Jesse Kivel and Zinzi Edmundson have looked outward, replacing the punch-drunk mood and theme of their debut with a disquieting social commentary on the privileges given to many of their peers growing up in Los Angeles (think Bret Easton Ellis’ Less Than Zero).

 

The now engaged duo’s lyrics pull from character studies of classmates and friends in Bel Air, exploring the overdramatic, banal lives of those kids who grew up with everything they wanted. Kisses took their time releasing their sophomore album–aptly titled Kids In L.A.–and spent a year and a half writing and recording. The result is something much darker than their luminous debut.

 

 

Kids In L.A. begins with the ominous thuds and droning analog keyboards of “Up All Night,” portraying a sense of disconnect and loneliness out the gates. A funky bass line and crashing drum machine beats bring the song to life, but listen closely to Kivel’s lyrics and realize the upbeat, dance-inducing music is just to mask the disinterest of his protagonist as he shrugs off that he’s “been up all night.” 

 

This sediment threads itself through the album as Kivel’s character confronts his love interest: “I thought we had a thing, don’t be so trivial,” in the slow-burning, ‘80s influenced “At The Pool.” But by the end of the album, it seems as though the characters are maturing, or at least recognizing their faults. “And who we are, are we just as blind?” Kivel asks in “Bruins,” a more introspective song about growing up. 

 

 

The concept behind Kids In L.A. is an interesting one, and though the lyrics and music hold up to the themes, creating a cold world of wealth, deceit and boredom, it’s the latter that unfortunately packs the hardest punch. These characters are neither interesting nor profound and the music seems to share the same quality at times. It’s as though Kivel and Edmundson became so engulfed with these disinterested characters that they became them. And for all we know, that was the point all along. 

 

Kisses are close to hitting the mark with this record, but they just have to push their ideas a little further to make them concrete enough for their listeners to follow and understand throughout the album’s entirety. 

 

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