Digging In: RINSE - 'Kiss Me (Kill Me)' feat. Hatchie

Image credit: Jordan Hourigan

It’s hard to comprehend just how much the world has changed over the last four years. With the world shutting down in mid-March 2020, just a few weeks earlier longtime Brisbane-based musician Joe Aguis had just launched his new solo project RINSE with his debut single, which we found out all about here.

While RINSE may have launched in tumultuous times, thankfully those times are (largely and fingers crossed) behind us, with RINSE not just surviving these times, but as heard on recent singles, thriving. After releasing Stranger featuring Caroline Loveglow in March this year (almost four years to the day from his debut single), Aguis is back and dreamier than ever, teaming up with longtime collaborator and wife, Hatchie, on new one Kiss Me (Kill Me).

Easily one of the best songs and music videos released last week, Kiss Me (Kill Me) sees RINSE crafting some signature dense and dreamy sonic atmospheres, combining shoegaze with 80s pop vibes - big fuzzy chords, striking synths and reverb drenched guitars are the order of the day as Aguis and Hatchie’s irresistible vocal harmonies become far greater than the sum of their parts.

Meanwhile, the ridiculously cute and wholesome music video features the pair taking an old, metal framed single bed and hitting the streets and suburbs of Melbourne, taking turns pushing each other around with an overall touching and nostalgic vibe enveloping the whole production.

To celebrate the release of Kiss Me (Kill Me), RINSE was kind enough to dig in to the song and music video’s creative process:

Kiss Me (Kill Me) began late last year as almost a country sounding song on acoustic guitar. Originally it was an idea I thought could be good for a Hatchie song, that once I started recording properly just felt too perfectly fit for a song for RINSE. It went through quite a few versions, some more acoustic and some more heavy until I found the sweet spot. When I had the structure and vibe down, I had my friends Brodie Brummer and Andy Russel from Melbourne shoegaze band Flyying Colours record guitar and drums on it. It felt like a spiritual successor to Back Into Your Arms in a lot of ways, which Hatchie featured on, so it felt only right to have her sing on this one also.

The video really came from a point of not having any money to make one. Originally we were going to throw the bed on a trailer and drive through the country both on it singing along, but with the unpredictable weather and wind in Melbourne and ever growing budget it just felt undoable and too hard. With the help of Jordan Hourigan (who I work with a lot on music videos with), I decided to hit bunnings, buy some wood and trolley wheels and very poorly attach them to the bed frame which I found on Marketplace for $40. It did a pretty good job but as you’ll see at the end of the video they did have their limits and we had to repair them on the spot a couple of times.

For me the song treads the line of a relationship that is as much pain as it is passion, and the ecstasy and agony of trying to hold onto fragments of a shattered romance. I really wanted contrast between how happy it sounds instrumentally, with how sad and desperate the lyrics are at times.

Three Songs That Inspired/Influenced Kiss Me (Kill Me):

My Bloody Valentine - Drive It All Over Me

I listen to the MBV EP’s religiously and it’s always a reference point for me. I love how twee it is compared to their later records but still so heavy and rough around the edges. Something that I was really trying to achieve with this song.

Jay Som - Superbike

Loved this track and record a lot when it came out. It came back to mind when recording Kiss Me (Kill Me), I think just because of the light-ness and loose-less of it all. It just sounds like a summer drive.

Smashing Pumpkins - Today

Couldn’t help but think about Smashing Pumpkins and this song especially while recording the heavier parts of Kiss Me (Kill Me). I really wanted the pre-choruses to be feedback-y and heavy compared to the lighter parts of the song to match the aggravation of the lyrics.

          - Joe Aguis aka RINSE, April 2024

RINSE's new single Kiss Me (Kill Me) feat. Hatchie is out now via Cohort

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