Review Summary: With IAMX, Chris Corner (Sneaker Pimps) cuts a solitary path into electronic indie.
IAMX is one man: Chris Corner. Digging deeper into the heavily synth-coated trip-hop sound he developed with Sneaker Pimps,
Kiss + Swallow is like being thrown into a futuristic 80's dance venue, where you may be the only straight person in the room, but the music if f'n incredible. Corner, by his own account, is not IAMX. He merely plays him. And he plays him quite convincingly. On the IAMX debut, he creates a raunchy, juiced-up breed of synthpop that takes a dark, electronic sound to into thick, beat-heavy territory with the power to shake movement out of even the most dance floor wary. A far greater success than failure,
Kiss + Swallow establishes IAMX's creator as a powerful, creative force in the world of electro indie.
Title track,
“Kiss + Swallow”, opens the album with high-energy, retro-synth instrumentation that represents the best of what Chris Corner can conjure. Brightly pixelated rhythms over stretchy, rubbery beats, the title track sounds like electric candy that your ears can eat, and should enjoy. The meaning of the lyrics in the song, and the album as a whole, are open to interpretation – but what is clear is that we're dealing with some dirty stuff.
“If you think that you can spell / Make a list of the ***** you'd send to hell and send them / Send them on the weekend / Echo Echo / I know it's a sin to kiss and swallow.” If
“Kiss + Swallow” leaves a bad taste in your mouth, then you might not be ready for subsequent track,
“Sailor.” Probably the most blatantly unheterosexual track on the album, it also happens to be one of the best. A slowed down, dance worthy track,
“Sailor” twists and pops it's synths all over your ear's face with its chilled out beat.
“Three way / Freeway / Take me like a sailor.” While these songs explore racy territory, they also contain some of the meatiest, juiciest effects and synthlines found on a retro electro record.
“Your Joy Is My Low” is a monster of a song that slams, beats and swaggers across the best five-minutes-and-eighteen-seconds on the album. Instantly recognizable as one of the coolest songs you've ever heard,
“Your Joy Is My Low” makes
Kiss + Swallow worth seeking out. Icy synth notes accompanied by a low, thumping beat open the track, giving way to a crooning Corner, executing the performance of a career. The song utilizes all of the best things he's shown before - only thoroughly visualized, fresher and more polished than ever. Singing, speaking and whispering an array of sexually charged lyrics, Corner delivers a song that highlights his uncommon voice and unique vocal style. If any song were to justify the creation and use of a “repeat” button,
“Your Joy Is My Low” would be that song.
In addition to the more party friendly, up-tempo tracks,
Kiss + Swallow is also full of slow ballads, where IAMX explores some dreary territory. Slow building, and for the most part quite good, songs like
“Mercy”, “Simple Girl” and
“I Like Pretending” rely on Chris Corner's emotionally conducive vocals and performance, which reveal broad range and ability. Of all the low BPM tracks on the album,
“Missile” is the most powerful and engaging. IAMX's most earnest and heartfelt emotion comes through in the words of it's somber refrain,
“Think you're giving / But you're taking my life away.” While none of the ballads are all that bad, they aren't the real draw of IAMX. They all work, but unless you're a die hard follower of Chris Corner, they don't excite like the beat thumping, electro-glossed dance tracks. A solid collection from beginning to end,
Kiss + Swallow only has one bad track. If any song were to justify the creation and use of a “skip” button,
“You Stick It In Me” would be that song. A sample of a woman repeating little more than the title opens the song before giving way to a combination of instrumentation and vocals that create for a very difficult listen.
The sound of
Kiss + Swallow closely resembles where Chris Corner left off on Sneaker Pimps third album,
Bloodsport. Several of the songs on the IAMX debut were carried over from Sneaker Pimps' rejected fourth album,
SP4 (working title), including the title track. Corner has since continued to release music as his IAMX alter-ego (
The Alternative,
2006 and
Kingdom of Welcome Addiction,
2009), which will always have an audience in the fans he garnered with Sneaker Pimps and will continue to pick up as he cuts a solitary path into electronic indie.
Imperative Listen:
"Your Joy Is My Low"
Must Listen:
"Kiss + Swallow", "Sailor", "Missile"
