Biography

Channeling '70s disco through indie pop, Los Angeles' Kisses feature vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jesse Kivel -- also of the band Princeton -- and keyboardist Zinzi Edmundson, who is also a writer and fashion blogger. Kivel began making music in elementary school, forming Princeton with his twin brother Matt and childhood friend Ben Usen in 2005. The following year, he began dating Edmundson, but the pair didn't start collaborating on music until a few years later. Inspired by the sincerity and style of vintage disco -- and Kivel's friendship with disco producer Alec R. Costandinos -- Kisses released their debut single, Bermuda, via Transparent Records in April 2010, and People Can Do the Most Amazing Things that August on IAMSOUND. Their first full-length, The Heart of the Nightlife, arrived in November 2010. Kisses next hit the studio with producers Pete Wiggs (Saint Etienne) and Tim Laracombe to work on their second album. The more '80s-inspired and polished Kids in L.A. hit the stores in spring of 2013 on the Cascine label. Edmundson and Kivel were busy the next couple years with life stuff, getting married and having a baby, and when the time came to work on a new album they changed their approach. Instead of making another conceptually cohesive album that was studio-created, they picked Kivel's best recent songs and went into the studio with New York band Midnight Magic backing them. The resulting album, 2015's Rest in Paradise, was their most warmly organic effort to date and was released on the Hit City USA label. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi