Even in an era that has produced quite a few great rock bands, The Killers are an anomaly. They are one of the most commercially successful acts of the 21st century, but their music – a clever mix of pop, heartland rock and new wave – does not fit into one scene or genre, and their biggest hit by far, “Mr. Brightside, Is from 2004. They are the most popular band coming from Las Vegas, yet they are often grouped with the early ’00s NYC scene of the Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their albums contain incongruous flashes of Duran Duran and Bruce Springsteen in relatively similar proportions, besides hooks so gigantic that there is an almost Weezer-ish feeling of “are they serious or ironic, or both?” In the pop landscape, The Killers are both an outlandish and overwhelmingly normal.
The band’s secret weapon is its mix of pop hooks and heart-string-tugging anthems – much of which lies with frontman Brandon Flowers, who, despite the group’s success, is one of the most underrated singers and songwriters. working today (and who, as a Mormon family man who also happens to be an international rock star from Vegas, gets used to a thing or two about contrasts). Six albums in, it’s more his band than ever: Although they are both still officially members, bassist Mark Stoermer and guitarist Dave Keuning have long been on “touring hiatus”; the former plays on about half of this album and the latter not at all. The core musicians here are Flowers and drummer Ronnie Vannucci with new co-producers Jonathan Rado (from LA-based duo Foxygen) and Shawn Everett, with the former co-writing most of the songs and playing on them all.
Flowers is pretty enough to know that the line between fame and evolution is a good one, so Killers albums have managed to navigate change while basing the group’s base template. On “Mirage” many of the familiar elements are present, from the solid tenor and exciting, triumphant choruses of Flowers to the crystalline keyboards and the surprisingly frequent chimes that support them. The synthesizers of the new wave that marked their early songs are also back, but in a different thought: Well, it’s a vintage synthetic-string sound that was common in the ’80s songs by the likes of Dire Straits and Springsteen, but also reminiscent of The Weeknd’s recent smash “Blinding Lights” and the last two albums of War on Drugs. In fact, the leader of that band, Adam Granduciel, plays keyboards on one song here; kd long, Lindsey Buckingham and Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering also make comeos.
The songs themselves are vintage killers, often starting quietly, but riding relentlessly to those coveted, multilayered choruses that Flowers does so well, perfect for singing emotionally with an incredible fist across the chest. The album’s 10 songs break through on a stiff and efficient clip, never standing out more than their welcome: It opens with the glasses “My Own Soul’s Warning”, short shifts before the start of “Dying Breed” before they happen in sonic widescreen panorama, and goes through the new golf bounce of “caution” and the stepping stones of “fire in bone.” Boss-like themes of breaking free, lifting weights and throwing caution against the wind abound in the lyrics (“If I do not come from this city / I am just the one who finally burns it,” Flowers sings about “Caution” ), and Vegas and the Desert are an almost adaptable presence in various songs.
However, the big bang is reserved for the penultimate track, “When the Dreams Run Dry”, which has a beautiful coda, which is one of the best things Flowers has ever written. He also seems to know it, judging by the elaborate-even-by-Killers standards arrangement surrounding the cascading melody: It stacks on heavenly keyboards, a New Order-like pulsating synth, screaming slide guitars, a massaged choir and ( of course) glockenspiel. The song leads smoothly into the concluding title track, which ends with another exciting chorus gracefully elaborated in a musical victory leg, with Flowers’ screaming “Hey-yeah!” S underlined by a flashy keyboard hook – a sort of “See you next time!” Exeunt, until the group returns in their next iteration, probably within the next three to five years.
The killers
“Imploding the Mirage”
(Island Records)
