The Killers
The Man
Island/Universal
The Killers are back and they’re mining the funkier pop sounds of the fabulous 80s on latest single The Man. Which means rather than the Springsteen-indebted anthems of their last album, 2o12’s Battle Born, or even 2006’s Sam’s Town, what we’re looking at here is more in the vicinity of maligned 2008 record Day & Age.
Then again, the closest we’ve previously come to frontman Brandon Flowers sounding this Duran Duran-inspired was his last solo album The Desired Effect, a fun record that outwore its welcome swiftly.
Time will tell whether or not new album Wonderful Wonderful will suffer a similar fate, but this boisterous showing suggests their Vegas sincerity is better suited to Springsteen-isms than the David Bowie-aping pop that younger acts such as The Weeknd are pulling off more convincingly.
One thing’s for sure, by the time they’re rumoured to play at the AFL grand final, we should have a better idea. Wonderful Wonderful is slated for a September 22 release date.
Produced by Jacknife Lee (with one song by Stuart Price) it is set to feature Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler, Seekae’s Alex Cameron and Some Kind of Love, which Flowers wrote over the top of a Brian Eno instrumental.
HARVEY RAE
