“There is also this golf-playing, kind of not-exciting retirement community. I think we were attracted to the former days of glamour in the desert for sure. Also it’s just a little different; there are a lot of bands that are, especially now coming out of LA, that are more inspired by this topography and what goes on in LA proper – maybe the beach. Which, not that it was a conscious decision I just think we’re not as interested in that – we migrated more towards the desert.”
Zinzi and singer Jesse join a long list of musicians who happen to manage both a creative and romantic relationship. “We’ve been dating for five years and Kisses have only existed for, I think, two now. So we’ve been dating for a long time and Jesse’s in another band called Princeton, which also predated Kisses and also predated us dating. They had just finished their album and Jesse wanted to explore a different kind of music that he likes, and that we like, which is dancier than the Princeton project. That’s sort of how it came about – all at once.”
The confluence of upbeat rhythms and an understated, borderline-monotonous vocal delivery at first seems to be a combination of two halves, with Jesse’s Jens Lekman-like singing style underlying Zinzi’s disco flourishes. But as Zinzi explains, that’s not necessarily the case. “It’s a combined effort. I think it took Jesse a really long time to get around to thinking that he was any good at writing that sort of song. For a while there, he was writing more serious songs. Not that these aren’t serious; maybe just a little more sober. And I think it took him a while to come around to dance music in general, but there’s also this Swedish element that he’s into that I didn’t really know that much about.
“He introduced me to all the Sincerely Yours [Swedish label] artists; that disco-electronic vibe is something that he bought and I’ve always been sort of more a pop lady in general. I think it was a combination of different elements within the dance genre that we bought to the table.”
One of the most distinctive choruses within The Heart Of The Nightlife exhibits Jesse pleading “I would like to take you out / For a nice steak dinner / Just me and you.” It’s endearing in its naiveté, and as it turns out, is a reference to a character who is very much trying to uphold an overwhelming facade.
“Jesse wrote the lyrics, and from what I understand, a lot of it was a persona that he imagined being; like the ‘cool-guy’ thing to say that maybe didn’t work. That line actually comes from the movie Catch Me If You Can, where Leonardo Di Caprio’s character swoons a bank teller. Maybe that’s the appeal of the Palm Springs stuff too, just outside the realm of our reality. Just this fantasy life, and maybe the desperation comes from our actual reality,” Zinzi ponders.
