Just a couple of months ago, Hot Chip co-leader Alexis Taylor released his collab-heavy solo album Paris In The Spring, and you should tap in with that one if you missed it. I wish Taylor didn't fuck around with AI-generated videos in the rollout, but the record itself is absolutely gorgeous. Hot Chip also just had a very funny cameo on the second season of Netflix's Beef, with an over-excited Oscar Isaac jumping onstage to play keyboard with them. Now, Alexis Taylor is joining forces with Mike Simonetti, half of the duo Pale Blue and the founder of the Italians Do It Better label (and Troubleman Unlimited before that) for a new 12" single.
It looks like Taylor and Simonetti might make more music together in the future, but their upcoming 12" only has one new track, and we get to hear it today. It'll also have a cover of the Bonnie "Prince" Billy classic "I See A Darkness," which is exciting, as well as remixes from claire rousay and Black Forces. As for that original song, it's called "Perfect Kiss," and it's not the New Order cover that I assumed it would be when I saw the title. (That's "The Perfect Kiss.") There's plenty of New Order in its DNA, though. Also, this song rules.
Alexis Taylor starts off "Perfect Kiss" singing softly and tenderly over an acoustic guitar, and the song eventually builds to a crescendo of dramatic dancefloor delirium. It's simply lovely. According to a press release, Taylor and Simonetti met when Taylor heard Simonetti DJ'ing at Output, a Williamsburg venue that no longer exists. Taylor says, "I was really excited about the re-edits he was playing that night." And here's what Simonetti says about the music that he and Taylor are making together:
I grew up listening to the radio on drives with my parents, whether it was driving around Bayonne, New Jersey or a trip to the Jersey shore. I was raised on pop music and on the radio. Before even making music with Alexis, we would have little conversations and seem to be on a similar wavelength regarding pop music. He’s kinda around the same age as me, which doesn’t hurt, either. I think you have to be a certain age to appreciate '80s pop music because it does not exist as we know it today. So the songs that me and Alexis make are definitely going to have a lot of pop elements to them, even though the subject matter might not be stereotypical pop. But that’s the beauty of a good song — hiding darkness behind a pop hook.
Taylor, Simonetti, and Simonetti's Pale Blue partner Elizabeth Wight star in the "Perfect Kiss" video, which director Brian Deran shot on Super 8 film in LA. Check it out below.
The "I See A Darkness" b/w "Perfect Kiss" single is out 6/12 on Smugglers Way.
