Sleigh Bells return with their fifth album titled Kid Kruschev, yet seven years after their debut the band sticks with a similar sound to Treats without the punch. At only 21 minutes long, Kid Kruschev serves as a “mini-album” following 2016’s Jessica Rabbit. Despite its short length, the album somehow manages to drag on to an unsatisfying end.
What made Sleigh Bells special was their unique take on twee with some boisterous guitar riffs that now doesn’t feel so unique. With that said, Kid Kruschev’s opening track, “Blue Trash Mattress Fire” manages to give the most impactful moments of the song following this formula. The guitars just blast through after a well progressed build up as Alexis Krauss’s voice cuts through the distortion. This is territory, although well-charted by the duo, works well and gives off a swagger that isn’t anywhere else on the album.
The next track “Favorite Transgressions” keeps the loud guitar and iconic vocals of “Blue Trash Mattress Fire,” sounds like a Joan Jett song. It doesn’t do this poorly, but it just sounds out of place, especially after the opener sounds so true to the band’s sound. “Favorite Transgressions” loses the teeth of the opening track for a more poppy and nostalgic sound. This shift towards pop felt wrong as most of the tracks felt like they were missing the arena rock guitars kicking through.
Pop has always been a part of Sleigh Bells sound, yet what made the band great is power of guitars punching through everything else. Tracks like “Rainmaker” and “Show Me the Door” totally abandon the guitars of previous records giving way for a poppier sound that lacks any punch one should expect from a Sleigh Bells record.
The album’s closer, “And Saints,” is one of the more interesting tracks on the record—not that there are many to choose from in the first place at seven tracks long.
“And Saints” exists solely in a pop sound. There are no guitars that I want so badly on this record. It’s just Krauss singing over some minimal production, and it sounds great. It’s more lyrical than a lot of Sleigh Bells songs, and it feels right that Krauss can shine a bit more without the guitars on this song. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for most of the record.
Madhatters come to final steps of rehearsal for their annual fall show
It’s tough to pin down the purpose of Kid Kruschev. Sleigh Bells had a pretty solid release just last year. There aren’t a whole ton of new ideas introduced here, and of the shifts in sound, none of them felt too compelling. At seven tracks, it rests in a weird limbo between an EP and LP, but the band didn’t need a short album to check in with fans. I would have been fine with a dual single of “Blue Trash Mattress Fire” and “And Saints.”
Kid Kruschev fails to make me feel excitement about a Sleigh Bells record, something that I haven’t felt since Reign of Terror. Although Jessica Rabbit made me feel hopeful, Kid Kruschev feels like a step back in many ways.
