Update: Sleigh Bells have canceled due to illness.
After building a reputation as the world’s first great shred-pop standard-bearers—bolstered by hardcore-breakdown guitar riffs that sonically resemble something close to a New Year’s Eve glitter bomb—the duo of vocalist Alexis Krauss and guitarist Derek Miller went outside their element for their fourth full-length record, 2016’s Jessica Rabbit. The results were mixed. While Sleigh Bells’ early party songs were fun, simple, and complemented a great deal by Krauss and Miller’s leather-jacket-and-black-sunglasses cool, with Jessica Rabbit they struggled to find a middle ground between the allure of their first few albums and their desire to mature past their candy-coated sound; it often feels too stilted, and sometimes too meandering. But last year’s mini album Kid Kruschev (Torn Clean) is proof that they’re figuring it out. Featuring more seething dark-electro elements than before and smartly relying on Krauss’s charm and talent, Kid Kruschev is much (much) tighter than its predecessor. It’s a step forward for Sleigh Bells without being neglectful of where they came from—as evidenced by a solid, thrumming single like “Rainmaker.” What’s remained unchanged is that the band is still a commanding force onstage. v
