A Sunnier Era

My 2004 self absolutely loved The Killers circa that particular place and time in life. They were the harbringers of the yet-again-passe revivalist 80s synth style, and they did it with such style and panache one should admire them for that gusto. Mind you, this was before anybody had ever heard of the band, and as the Music Director at a radio station I was one of the first to push this little-known song called "Somebody Told Me." One of the prouder things I did at that time, I think, though in retrospect helping to unleash The Killers on the world has felt like a mistake in a few different ways.

First it was the tragedy that happened when other radio stations found a little song called "Mr. Brightside" and quickly drove it into the ground as one of this century's most overplayed songs. It completely ruined that song for me, forcing me to skip it every time I want to play "Hot Fuss" from now on. But on the whole, I did think the band's first album was the sliced bread of 2004, and my excitement for a follow-up album became far too overbearing for my own good. When frontman Brandon Flowers called his band's sophmore effort "Sam's Town" "one of the best albums of the past 20 years," expectations rose even higher into the realm of pure fantasy. The extreme letdown of "Sam's Town" caused me to quickly turn my back on The Killers, for my belief was that they were clearly headed in the wrong direction. Brandon Flowers apparently thought he could grow a moustache and try to impersonate Bruce Springsteen and get away with it. To be fair, the whole "80's synth-rock revival" was deader than a doornail by 2006 when the album was released, so I might have to give The Killers credit for making a move away from that farmiliar sound which had gotten them so popular in the first place.

Now here we are in 2008 and The Killers have put out their third album, "Day & Age." Apparently realizing their mistake on "Sam's Town," this new record brings the band more back to their 80's synth-pop roots but with a more durable twist that's better suited to this year. More importantly, they're trying some new and more durable things on this record, so much so that you can wonder at times whether or not you're still listening to the same album from track to track. They get a significant horn section involved on album opener "Losing Touch," and that same brass comes back a couple different times across "Day & Age." Tribal chanting is institutionalized on "This Is Your Life," which helped bring back some less pleasant memories of some 80s songs. The band with their Springsteen-y edge comes back in smaller form on "A Dustland Fairytale," but it's a more welcome respite from all the disco-synth that has preceeded it on the album. A trip to the calypso on the tin drum, mixed with some harp and sax mix things up further on "I Can't Stay," which is a wholly effective song that seems like an attempt to prove the band can really stretch themselves stylistically. Honestly, "I Can't Stay" feels like their version of Weezer's "Island In the Sun," the latter being better if you ask me. I also want to make special mention of the song "Joy Ride," a song that feels like a serious grab towards the poppier side of The Cure in the 80's- to the point where Brandon Flowers actually wails in what sounds like a full-on attempt to copy Robert Smith. It's both admirable and pathetic at the same time, but if you've got significantly lowered expectations it's the sort of thing that makes you sit up and pay attention.

Nobody's going to hand The Killers a lyrical genius award anytime soon, and if you listen hard enough to what Brandon Flowers is trying to say on "Day & Age" you'll mostly wind up sorely disappointed. By mainly focusing on the actual tunes and Flowers' own pitch/vocal affectations rather than what he's spitting out, you'll generally enjoy this album more. Thankfully Flowers' vocals do sound more pushed into the background than usual this time, making it a little harder to discern what he's saying at every turn. Still, if you focus on it and are one of those people who likes to sing along by knowing all the lyrics, I want you to think really hard about the words you're repeating and whether or not they have any real merit. This, in my opinion, has always been (and may always be) the biggest problem with The Killers.

As The Killers have reached that arena-level of popularity and they continue to play sold out shows in large places, they've made quite the album to help project that sound to a crowd more than willing to listen. Tried and true, "Day & Age" is a stadium-sized epic record that takes the band to new places with mixed results. Rest assured, if you're a fan of all the bombast and glamour that comes with this band and their showstopping Vegas style, this album will not disappoint in the least. It's markedly better than the relatively distasteful "Sam's Town," but never quite reaches the consistency and raw energy of "Hot Fuss." It also happens to be just a little bit over-produced. But maybe we should expect that by now. For a band of this magnitude, they're doing all right for themselves. These pretty boys prove on "Day & Age" that they can go head-to-head with their counterparts from Coldplay or Oasis any day.

The Killers- Losing Touch

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Labels: the killers