Rating: NN
He’d taken his slow beats as far as they could go on the near-classic A Grand Love Story disc, and it was to be expected that Parisian producer Kid Loco would radically change things on the follow-up. Even so, this is a real shocker. Kill Your Darlings is a well-produced but very straight pop record, dominated by the vocals of Louise Quinn and Departure Lounge singer Tim Keegan. The dreamy soundscapes and stoned beats are gone, replaced by quaint pop songs about 3-foot-high reefers and the death of rock and roll. It’s an interesting idea, and initially fairly amusing, until you realize that there’s a pretty major difference between making beats and writing songs. The good ideas dry up about halfway through Kill Your Darlings, and all you’re left with are a couple of half-baked Love & Rockets rip-offs and some sluggish soul. Oops.
