Despite officially being a Marianne Faithfull song – appearing on her album of the same name – this is, to all intents and purposes a late-period Blur song, falling between 13 and Think Tank and bearing all manner of similarities not only to some Damon Albarn material from Gorillaz, but also – and particularly – “Black Book,” the b-side of 2000’s “Music is My Radar” single.
Both songs have a swampy quality, and a feeling that the lyrics (as revelatory as they may be, and I think in both cases, they are – Moreso than Albarn intended, perhaps) are somehow less important to the overall sound of the whole thing, leading to a lot of repetition and the voice as instrument rather than focal point. Repetition is big in both songs, but perhaps especially “Kissin’ Time”; the song becomes little more than a loop of itself by halfway through, with the song falling to and fading into one more chorus and then a slow, hypnotic, somewhat beautiful degradation. It’s a song that only makes sense with a fade out; it’s a narcotic, an inescapable thing that would make an end feel insincere and unreal. Your time will come, the song goes, but that almost seems like a… a threat, maybe? A promise? Something to taunt, either way, something to make that time seem unattainable because you’ll always be within this particular moment.