Makeout Music #4 – Being Cheesy, or Desire

This is a column on Polyvox mag dot com. The column is called Makeout Music, which is indicative of the contents. My name is Jenny Hanover. I’m usually a poet from Pittsburgh, PA. However, I double as a former college music director and kissing connoisseur, so I’m going to be breaking down some of the best albums to kiss to of all time. 

Maybe… just maybe, being corny isn’t all bad. I guess I should be the one to say it, since I’m writing about music to kiss to on a serious music publication and I’m probably the corniest person most people know, if they know me in real life. Corny-ness is next to godliness, as the old saying goes. Or does it… 

Either way, one of my favorite corny albums to get down to is Desire’s self-titled album. I mean, it’s right in the name- Desire. This record is sometimes listed as II, which is something I’m not really sure about because it’s always just been self titled to me. Desire is a band from Montreal that currently works out of California. They operate as a trio, the most notable member being esteemed Italians Do It Better producer, Johnny Jewel. This album sounds like most other records released on Italians Do It Better, Chromatics, Causeway, Glüme, to name a few. 

So, why don’t I choose one of those Italians Do It Better compilations, or the ever-popular Chromatics release? 

This album has one of the best fucking songs you could ever make out to. It’s called Under Your Spell, and this one alone is enough of a heavy hitter to sell me on the entire record. Glowing synths, light, pulsing drums, and the soft sound of perfect lyrics 

Perfect simplicity, but to a point. One time in college I liked a girl so much that I literally got on my hands and knees over the toilet in a campus building and just dry heaved. I laid awake all night, I hardly found the time to eat, it was literally ruining my life. A few days after the gagging incident, there she was, fantastically real and in my bed and we were kissing and this song happened to come on automatic shuffle after my playlist. I could’ve wept. This album is perfect to kiss to, especially when you’re kissing someone that you like so much it’s killing you. It’s eight songs long, and most of them clock between four and a half and seven minutes, giving a good uninterrupted flow. Plus, they’re all so similarly dreamy that they float into each other anyhow, with a few hints of disco when things need to pick up. There’s a few pace changes, but they’re welcome, and there are enough spoken monologues to really hammer home the way it makes you feel. It ends with an over seven minute long cool-down that starts with a mid tempo beat and ends with humming white noise. 

This is the kind of record that you have to release all of your shame to kiss to, but if you really think about it, isn’t that the point? We’re grown adults smashing our faces together like wild animals, so why not lean into the theatrics. If you’re a corny fool-in-lust like me, I think you should make out to Desire. 

I’m giving this a three out of five, deducting points for some of the quicker tempo stuff and repetition. I will not be deducting points for the cheese factor, and I think that Under Your Spell holds enough weight to tempt me… just a little bit… to add another point… but I digress.

Best tracks: Under Your Spell, Colorless Sky, Mirroir Mirroir 

Polyvox reader, do you have a great album to kiss to? Email me an album at minajbeach@gmail.com, and I’ll be the judge of that, thanks. Don’t worry- I’ll keep you anonymous.