Kissing Party - Looking Back It Was Romantic But At The Time I Was Suffocating
- Written by Zoe Wallbank
Kissing Party’s latest album Looking Back It Was Romantic But At The Time I Was Suffocating is a classic indie pop album that sounds straight out of a teen movie.
The opening track ‘Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow’ starts with church bells, an interesting but engaging choice. It has heavy guitars, a theme throughout the album with many tracks including them, such as ‘Skinhead Jen’ which ends by fading to just a guitar solo.
The songs follow a distinctive thread of vocals similar to bands like The Smiths, with upbeat tunes contrasting the tone of the voice. However, the vocals are split between a male and female singer keeping things interesting and new. The distinctive sound this creates in showcased in the lead single ‘Trash’ which sums up the band’s sound perfectly.
Most of the album follows this pattern and it is very upbeat. However, there are some welcome exceptions to this rule. For example, ‘You Can’t Have Everyone’ has a rockier sound, and it’s slower than most of the other tracks as well as ‘Two Boys’ which is also a rockier sounding track with heavier drums. In addition, ‘A Vain Victory’ and ‘Stabs At Happiness’ are much calmer than the others, whilst still obtaining the upbeat melody of the entire album; similarly ‘Night Of The Pigs’ and ‘I Live With The Mystery’ have calmer melodies with more focus on the heartfelt lyrics.
The lyrics are largely aimed at teenagers with brash tongue-in-cheek lyrics such as “Christ can’t save me; I’m perfect” in ‘New Glue’ and “You guys are a bunch of pussies” in ‘The Swimming Pool’.
Overall, the album is good. It fits into the indie pop genre perfectly and mixes upbeat melodies with the split and Smiths-inspired vocals, creating something new. That being said, the album following the same pattern for most tracks can get repetitive and the songs that break away from that pattern are needed.
Looking Back It Was Romantic But At The Time I Was Suffocating is available from Amazon and iTunes.