The Kills - Siberian Nights

When we asked Jamie Hince about The Kills’ song ‘Siberian Nights’ – the first song the band penned for their fifth record ‘Ash & Ice’ – he told us it was a concept song about Vladimir Putin’s latent homoerotic desires. “He just wants the warmth of a masculine body,” he deadpanned, suggesting that Putin’s object of infatuation is Tony Blair. He’s probably got a point there, in fairness.

While ol’ Jamie was probably taking the mick a bit, ‘Siberian Nights’ remains a track that searches for an especially lusty something in the most unlikely, brutal environments. “I can whip you up like cream,” it boasts over stalking horror movie guitar-cries, “I could drink your seven seas, is that too close for comfort?” Angular, chilly, and as sparse as the remote landscape that gives the song its name, everything here is close to the bone and spiny. Packed with desire, and above all, a longing to get back to something that connects, it surges with all the opposites-collide energy that is shaping up to define ‘Ash & Ice’