“Kissing Boys” by LA Laura Paris

Texture is of utmost importance to LA Laura Paris, and if this wasn’t the case her new single “Kissing Boys” wouldn’t have its physical feel despite a relatively minimalistic arrangement and instrumental setup. Where a lot of other artists would be using heavy instrumentation to create the kind of imposing pop sound that she is, LA Laura Paris is relying on conservatively appointed percussion and electronic melodicism to create a chills factor in “Kissing Boys,” which might just be one of the most erotic and intriguing indie pop listens to debut in the last couple of months.

The music video for this track is beyond provocative in terms of its visuals, and I think this theme lives up to the feel of the source material without question. Although I think she could get a little bit of flak from the mainstream press for being overindulgent with the aesthetics in the video, there’s something undeniably inviting about the electrified imagery here, both sexual and psychedelic in nature. It’s intoxicating for the eyes and quite reminiscent of the more intense and beat-heavy hypnosis videos I’ve seen scattered across the internet in the past ten years. Although decadent, this is a hard piece to turn away from.

Even the groove has an eroticized manner to the way it crashes into the bassline, creating an ebb and flow relationship that resembles coitus in more ways than one. There’s a pulsating vitality to every part of this arrangement, from the bassline to the dry percussion and the exaggerated swagger we get from LA Laura Paris’ soft lead vocal, but it’s presented in such a manner that to call it over the top would be to suggest that the framework of this track doesn’t make any sense – which, as anyone who listens will agree, is anything but the truth.

This master mix is more than a little volatile; it’s downright violent in a few spots, but it gets the heat level to where it needs to be in “Kissing Boys.” To me, I think this song was always meant to feel like a constrictive listening experience geared to mimic the pressurized environment of a nightclub. We know that anything could transpire in the next few minutes, and as the beat propels us forward and into each other, it’s hard to resist the sensation that develops all around us, starting from within our very ears.

“Kissing Boys” is one of the steamiest new indie-pop listens you can get your hands on this month, and it’s a spotlight release for LA Laura Paris that is going to get a lot of fans curious about what her next move will be. Both in the music video and the song on its own, she’s presented as a fierce player who doesn’t care what rules you put in front of her; she’s intent on getting what she wants on the other side of every verse she sings, which is a drive that I simply have to hear more of before the summer is over.

Mindy McCall