Day & Age The Killers Artist

{|The Killers|}' great gift is that they -- and in particular their frontman, {|Brandon Flowers|} -- have utterly no recognition of the ridiculous. More than that, they're drawn to the ridiculous, piecing together sounds that don't belong together, r... Read more

{|The Killers|}' great gift is that they -- and in particular their frontman, {|Brandon Flowers|} -- have utterly no recognition of the ridiculous. More than that, they're drawn to the ridiculous, piecing together sounds that don't belong together, reaching far beyond their grasp, aiming for profundity and slipping into silliness. All this weighed the band down mightily on {|Sam's Town|}, their convoluted Americana theme park of a sophomore album, all false facades and paper-thin pretension, but on its 2008 sequel, {|Day & Age|}, {|the Killers|} shrink the canvas and brighten their palette, opting for a big sound over big themes. Since {|the Killers|} are at their core poseurs and not prophets, style over substance is the right move and {|Day & Age|} has style for miles and miles, exceeding even their debut, {|Hot Fuss|}, in its stainless steel gleam. If anything, {|Hot Fuss|} was a little too monochromatic in its obsession with '80s synth rock, a criticism that can hardly be leveled at {|Day & Age|}, a record that stitches together sounds with an almost blissfully idiotic abandon. Anchored in dance-rock though they may be, {|the Killers|} no longer sound like mere disciples of {|New Order|} and {|Duran Duran|}: emboldened by the left turns of {|Sam's Town|}, no matter how misguided they may have been, {|the Killers|} will try anything, goosing Losing Touch with growling saxophones, creating a {|Strokes|} disco for Joy Ride, flirting with worldbeat a la {|Vampire Weekend|} on This Is Your Life, dancing the bossa nova on I Can't Stay, and riding a tight soulful rock & roll groove on The World We Live In, bringing it close to a mad fusion of {|Steve Miller|}'s Abracadabra and {|Hall & Oates|}' Private Eyes. Like before, it's impossible to tell if such improbable juxtapositions are intentional or accidental, but given the overall tightness of {|Day & Age|}, it feels as if {|the Killers|} do indeed mean to create these odd, often pleasing, pop pastiches. And the emphasis damn well should be on the sound and melody, for {|Flowers|} remains a downright goofy lyricist, whether he's misinterpreting {|Hunter S. Thompson|} on Human or recounting an alien abduction on Spaceman. Ridiculousness is much harder to stomach in words than it is in music, but the nice thing about {|Day & Age|} is that not only is {|Flowers|}' voice relatively buried, {|the Killers|} are unwittingly comfortable with their ludicrous, outsized pop, which turns the album into terrifically trashy pop. Not the serious rock they yearn to be by any means, but these fashionable threads fit them better anyway. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Less