page_title: Chromatics (band)
section_title: 2011–2013: Kill for Love
hierarchical_section_title: Chromatics (band) / History / 2011–2013: Kill for Love
caption_attribution_description: English: Chromatics performing at Route du Rock festival in France, 2012.
context_page_description: Chromatics is an American electronic music band from Portland, Oregon, formed in 2001. The band consists of Ruth Radelet, Adam Miller, Nat Walker, and Johnny Jewel. The band originally featured a trademark sound indebted to punk and lo-fi that was described as "noisy" and "chaotic". After numerous lineup changes, which left guitarist Adam Miller as the sole original member, the band began releasing material on the Italians Do It Better record label in 2007, with their style streamlined into an Italo disco-influenced sound.
  Their third album Night Drive was met with critical acclaim, as was their fourth album, Kill for Love, which was released on March 26, 2012. Several of the band's songs have been featured in television series such as Bates Motel, Gossip Girl, Mr. Robot, Parenthood, Revenge, Riverdale, 13 Reasons Why, and Twin Peaks, as well as being featured in the films Drive, Taken 2, and The Perfection. In December 2014, the band announced what would have been their fifth studio album, titled Dear Tommy. While Chromatics have released a number of singles from it, Dear Tommy had yet to be released when they instead issued the album Closer to Grey in October 2019.
context_section_description: Chromatics gained recognition for their song "Tick of the Clock" which was used in the film Drive, released in September 2011 by director Nicolas Winding Refn, and its soundtrack, and again in the film Taken 2, released in October 2012 by director Olivier Megaton, and its soundtrack. On December 23, 2011, Jewel and Walker—under the name Symmetry—released Themes for an Imaginary Film, which was described by Pitchfork as Jewel's "most ambitious project to date: a sprawling, 37-track, two-hour collection of cinematic noir-electro", featuring contributions from Chromatics and fellow Italians Do It Better acts Glass Candy, Desire and Mirage.
  On October 23, 2011, Chromatics released the title track from their then-upcoming fourth studio album, Kill for Love. Reviews described the single as a "really hypnotizing, fascinating song that will definitely get you psyched for the record—Ruth Radalet warmly croons her sweet, cryptic confessional lyrics while her band effortlessly weaves a bubbling, dreamy, New Order-esque soundscape."
  The Fader mentioned, "Maybe Kill for Love will inaugurate a sea change where artists come to terms with themselves and start being open about how they sound when they sing. In basement studios everywhere, young vocalists will blink three times and start x-ing out effects in Ableton, look at the mirror for the first time in weeks, deep into their beady, sun-deprived eyes and whisper, "God, there are no shortcuts... Kill for Love continues the band's penchant for popular-sound defiance that made Chromatics so exciting in the first place."
  After waiting patiently, Chromatics have begun to reach fans "five years after the release of their incredibly prescient Night Drive album." "Kill for Love" was featured in the television shows Bates Motel and Gossip Girl. On February 11, 2012, the band leaked a second track from Kill for Love, "Into the Black", a cover of the Neil Young song "Out of the Blue and Into the Black", which was featured in the television shows Mr. Robot, Revenge, Riverdale, 13 Reasons Why, and The 100. Chromatics followed their second leak with three additional tracks, "Lady", "Candy" and on March 11, 2012 their fifth leak "Back from the Grave".
  As fans anticipated the album, Jewel mentioned that the process of creating Kill for Love resulted in a total of 36 tracks that have been narrowed down to 17 for the album.
  Chromatics' fourth studio album, Kill for Love, was released on March 26, 2012. The album has been described as sounding like a "time warp ... a warm collision of past, present, and future." On May 7, 2012, the group released an alternative version of Kill for Love for free download, featuring eleven songs from the original album with no drums or percussion. Songs from the album have been featured in television shows such as   Bates Motel, Gossip Girl, Mr. Robot, Parenthood, Revenge, Riverdale, and 13 Reasons Why. Kill for Love was named the eighth best album of 2012 by Pitchfork.
  Chromatics were invited by Karl Lagerfeld to play the Chanel Spring Summer 2013 fashion show in Paris in early October. The band was put above the runway, overlooking the whole catwalk and creating a dreamy ambience. Chromatics performed about five new and old songs.
caption: Chromatics performing at La Route du Rock festival in 2012
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