The Killers — Imploding The Mirage (8/21/20)
The Killers have been a top tier band for me ever since their sophomore album Sam’s Town in 2006. It’s an album that deserves to be hailed as one of the decade’s greatest.
14 years later, they remain one of the most well-known names in alternative rock and have gifted us with their sixth official full-length.
The band has settled into the heartland rock genre with their past couple of releases while still holding a new wave appeal with their use of shimmering synths. And they still manage to keep you on your toes. The disco-infused lead single “The Man” off 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful proved that they’re not afraid to pull off some new tricks.
“Caution” was put forth as the lead single for this new album back in March. Compared to “The Man,” it’s not quite as out-there, but they’re certainly not playing it safe. There’s no such thing as safe with The Killers. They squeeze everything they can out of a song and while this album is very much their sound, there’s something very daring about these grandiose arrangements.
Something I was not aware of is that some of the band’s last album was inspired by frontman Brandon Flowers’ wife Tana’s struggle with complex PTSD. This led the singer and his family (he has three boys) to move from their home in Las Vegas to Utah, where Flowers spent much of his childhood.
“Caution” was inspired by this move and has Flowers “throwin’ caution” as he makes the decision to leave the place he spent most of his life in, to do what needs to be done for his family.
After an ethereal opening 45 seconds, the song hits its momentum powered by Ronnie Vannucci Jr.’s steady and heavy-handed drumming. The chorus soars with glowing synths and creates a freeing sensation that inspires you to leave your worries behind. It comes to a fiery conclusion driven by a guitar solo from none other than Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.
It’s the band’s second single “Fire In Bone,” released in April, where they display a more out-there sound. You can’t ignore the funky bass all over the song, leading it through a slow groove as Flowers displays his very performative vocals.
It doesn’t have an instantly melodic appeal to it and it is very much worth several listens to find its full worth. It hits its stride in its final minute as you get more of that familiar emotional energy The Killers are so good at. Ultimately though, I find myself appreciating it more for its experimental nature than anything else, as it doesn’t reach any heights that give me the urge for repeated listens.
We were given the third single and the album’s opening track in June with “My Own Soul’s Warning.” “I tried going against my own soul’s warning/But in the end, something just didn’t feel right,” Flowers sings faintly over the gentle opening synths. It gives me a slight hint of sounds from a personal highlight off their last album in “Some Kind Of Love.”
It’s short-lived though as the beat hits, the synths start glowing, and Flowers begins to sing about what sort of otherworldly being it would take to get someone’s attention in “the whirlwind of these days.”
It’s another massive chorus that absolutely shines but it’s the song’s main refrain taken from the intro that captivates me the most.
“Dying Breed” is the fourth single, released a week before the album’s release. It’s an interesting one due to an addition made by producer Shawn Everett (The War on Drugs, Kacey Musgraves, Alabama Shakes). In the song’s final stages of creation, he added a soft and sticky percussion loop over it that was taken from a song called “Hallogallo” from a ’70s German band by the name of Neu! Turns out the rubbery bass used was also sampled from another old German band by the name of Can.
The whole first half rides this loop as the synths slowly begin to rise. Pretty much on the nose of the song’s halfway mark the drums come rolling in and we’re back to the cinematic grandiosity this album holds so much of. Unfortunately, there’s very little to the song that actually holds my interest. The halfway point change of pace is invigorating but it doesn’t push any further than that.
The first of the album’s non-singles, or deep-cuts, comes with song number two, “Blowback.” I adore this song. It doesn’t aim for the grandiosity of much of this album. Instead, it uses acoustic guitar and a dreamy country flavour to create some of the album’s most special feeling.
The song follows the story of a girl who seems to be trying to make it as an actress.
But she’s breathing in the blowback
Born into poor white trash and always typecast
But she’s gonna break out, boy, you’d better know that
The blowback seems to be everything that stands in her way. There’s a mesmerizing quality to the chorus and they create a very Fleetwood Mac-sound with the overlapping harmonization that is simply beautiful.
They feature Canadian artist k.d. lang for the operatic “Lightning Fields.” It’s a romantically tragic song that acts out a conversation between Flowers’ parents. His mom passed away in 2010 after a two-year battle with brain cancer. Lang plays the role of Flowers’ mom and supplies a short but powerful verse with the lines, “There’s no end to love/There’s no end to truth/There’s no end to me/There’s no end to you.”
Alright, I’ve mentioned Fleetwood Mac twice already in this review, but I have to mention them again. The opening guitar to “Running Towards A Place” absolutely screams Fleetwood Mac. It’s like “Rhiannon” at a faster pace. That intro really grabs my attention but the rest of the song, while appealing on a surface level, fails to keep me invested.
Thankfully, we get a dominating highlight to follow with “My God.” I can hardly compare this to anything else I’ve heard from The Killers. They feature the on-the-rise indie artist Weyes Blood for a tremendously strong chorus.
Thundering drums punctuate the shared words from Flowers and Weyes Blood that deal with the power of love against the trials one might experience in a relationship. When the song reaches its climax just after the 3-minute mark…it’s about as strong a feeling as there is to be found on this album.
The penultimate “When The Dreams Run Dry” was the first deep-cut that I found getting stuck in my head. It holds one of the strongest vocal performances I’ve ever heard from Flowers in the hook. The second run-through of the chorus is notably powerful. The drums crash a little harder and the synths dazzle the ears with this colourful energy that gives me flashes of Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).”
The album closes with the theatrical title track. It’s one of the more animated songs and includes quite the perky and fun chorus. It works as a conclusion of sorts as it seems to have Flowers reflecting on a lifetime of memories.
It’s a song like this and really, the album as a whole, that makes it so evident how strong a performer Flowers is. He is without a doubt one of the greatest vocalists and songwriters alive today, at least in my world.
The band that swept the airwaves 16 years ago with hits like “Somebody Told Me,” “Mr. Brightside,” and “All These Things That I’ve Done” continues to shine as one of the leading bands in alternative rock. Like many bands that saw early success, there’s always the shadow of their first couple of albums. As they evolve from album to album though, it’s almost as if that shadow is getting smaller.
There’s a confidence and dignity in their music that continues to keep the adoration of fans that have been with them since the beginning. I won’t deny I would love to hear a return to the all-out synth-rock/new wave sound of 2008’s Day & Age but no matter what they decide to do next, I can’t wait to hear it.
