The Killers - Battle Born

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I'm really interested in finding out what this new album 'Pressure Machine' will be like. They are billing it as a concept album based on true stories and Brandon's experiences from the small Utah town he grew up in. There have been no lead singles. Phoebe Bridgers is featured on a track called 'Runaway Horses".

It sounds like musically its going to be quite different from their other albums. Brandon has called them "quieter songs" and they've mentioned using steel drums, fiddles and harmonicas. I have a feeling it may seem more like another Brandon solo album, than a Killers album, but we'll see.

I'm keeping my expectations low and hoping it doesn't suck, but can't really complain about getting an entire new album only 11 months after Imploding the Mirage. It's really a bonus, any way you look at it.

Here's Brandon talking about some of the inspiration for (and a snippet of) one of the new tracks:


And here's a good Q&A with Brandon and Ronnie about the new album:

Sunday Conversation: The Killers On Their Intimate And Different New Album, Supergroups And Literature
 
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The newspapers and such seem to be giving it pretty good reviews so far. Very curious to see what this will sound like by Friday.
 
Listened through once now - it is sublime.

So much David Lynch vibes running through it with the intros and interviews and ethereal whooshing.

I wasn’t as enamoured with Imploding the Mirage as some people here - some really nice tunes and some wallpaper, but this, on first listen, seems an epic.
 
It seems to be getting good reviews. I saw a couple 8/10s and The Telegraph gave it 5 stars. I’m excited to hear it tonight.

For those in the US, they will be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight playing Runaway Horses. Not sure if Phoebe Bridgers will be joining them.
 
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It seems to be getting good reviews. I saw a couple 8/10s and The Telegraph gave it 5 stars. I’m excited to hear it tonight.

For those in the US, they will be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight playing Runaway Horses. Not sure if Phoebe Bridgers will be joining them.



It’s a masterful collab for this album. They are channeling a lot of her vibes for sure.

About to post more detailed impressions after a few more listens this morning.
 
Alright - four listens in and I am convinced this is their most consistent album. There are no songs that will permeate popular culture here; no Mr Brightside, When You Were Young etc. but I think that's a good thing, because this album has a quality that runs right through it that would be jarred by one or two radio songs (see Arctic Monkeys Tranquility Base).

This is very different. The strings are phenomenal, and there are some songs that radiate quiet and loud and build around instruments they don't often feature. There's also some synth inflections that call back to Hot Fuss in ways we haven't heard from them since.

The concept itself is clear, strong and well executed. The speech intros to songs add context and reality to the story snippets in each song. The songs without them don't need them. It humanises it, and the drama in the music really paints a strong picture as well.

This is what U2 should be doing - this is an established band letting go of the idea of popularity and following through with a strong concept. They've never sounded fresher, more relevant or more innovative as a result.

To the songs themselves, and there is nothing here that is bad or out of place.

West Hills - what a strong opener. It winds around a deep string part. It's dark, dramatic and powerful. It builds as well. Thematic links to the music are quite clever. It is probably one of the best songs on the album, but don't let that fool you into thinking it is top heavy.

Quiet Town - This is probably the closest thing to something you've heard before from the Killers... until after the first chorus and the harmonic kicks in. There's some Battle Born style Americana in here, but it isn't cheap or cheesy as it seems on Battle Born. Songs like this rely on the underlying theme of the album, but they are better for it.

Terrible Thing - This floored me. So quiet, and they resist the urge to build. It is so much more impactful for it. This is all about narrative and lyrics. It's devastating. I can't help but think of Bono and Edge's comments about needing things to translate to acoustic to know the strength of the songs. This is what they mean. I have had "I'm in my bedroom on the verge of a terrible thing..." in my mind all morning.

Cody - Ballad of a kid with personality and rebellion in a town of religious nuts. Rolling and pulsing around some slick steel string guitar. Some country DNA, but for someone like me who can't get through a country song without vomiting, it isn't a detraction. The outro dirty guitar is another masterful example of the thematic qualities of the music coming through in the instrumentation. And it works.

Sleepwalker - Probably the weakest song on the album, but that isn't a criticism. it's mid tempo and probably requires more time to grow into it. It is a great showcase of what we love about Brandon's vocal style.

Runaway Horses - I've mentioned above that Phoebe was a wonderful choice here. It's a quiet Phoebe-style song where she contributes an understated, beautiful support role. Another song with country DNA. Another song with great use of strings and piano. Production here is a big player in a song that keeps its integrity and beauty in its simplicity.

In the Car outside - The closest thing to a single. Until the inordinately long musical outro section. There aren't many lyrical contributions for the second half of the song. It's a brave choice, and it's what stops this song become this album's "4 out of 5". Probably my second favourite so far behind West Hills.

In Another Life - Mid-tempo and epic. This one will take some growing, because it probably blends too much into Quiet Town and Cody on the first few superficial listens. It occupies a spot alongside Sleepwalker for the one I've listened to least outside of full album run throughs.

Desperate Things - Moody, slow and reverb-y. Another great example of the use of restraint - let the lyrics come forward, and create moods. They haven't really done this before, and they are very good at it, very quickly.

Pressure Machine - What a late-album gem this one is. Beautiful vocal. Haunting string outro. This is not what I expected fmor the imagery and title of the album - I thought this one would be quite industrial, but it's delicate and pretty.

The Getting By - A finishing hymn. It's more of an album coda than a distinct tune. A really wonderful way to finish such a strong and powerful record. The train sounds in the outro are really cool as well after the interview clips about people getting hit by trains every few years and the song "Quiet Town".

I need to let it sink in more, but if I was reviewing this for a magazine, on this impression I'd be scoring this bloody high. It's a solid 9.2 for me.
 
Thanks, Utah, for posting the Flowers video and the interview.

I've only listened to the album once, so I definitely need more time with it. I grew up in a town of only 1,000 people, so there are definitely parts of this record that hit home for me. I remember, when I was a kid, hearing the sound of a train hit a car late at night; two college women were killed. So...yeah, it resonates. The energy of people feeling stuck and not wanting or feeling like they can't leave the town hits hard too. Of my high school class of 13 people, I think I'm the only one who really left.

I think my problem is that the world is so heavy right now, I almost can't afford to connect with this music because it brings up so much stuff. My music taste has been drifting way off into downtempo electronic, ambient, shiny pop. Listening to Pressure Machine was a heavy start to my day. Gotta be in the right mood for it. That said, I fully appreciate The Killers taking this turn with their songwriting.
 
Hey, a HeartlandGirl sighting! That's how you know the album is good.

This is their best since Hot Fuss but for completely different reasons. It's like a really depressing Kurt Vile album. I enjoyed the two albums before this one as well, so I'd say they're on a roll.
 
You're welcome HG. Good to see you again!
and I enjoyed reading your review and breakdown of the tracks Dan_Smee.

This definitely exceeded my expectations. It's really beautiful. I almost felt an Automatic For The People vibe at times, or maybe even some B-side of the Joshua Tree. Ronnie mentioned he listened to a lot of REM in the 90's a couple times in the lead up interviews, so maybe there was some inspiration there.

West Hills, Cody, In the Car Outside and the title track are probably my favorites. Brandon's falsetto in the title track is really beautiful, and that melody with the strings has been in my head all weekend. I think the interstitials from the locals really added to it, and the train rumbling by at the end was perfect. That's definitely the redneck Utah accent you are hearing, ha.

I'm pretty intimately familiar with this town so it was cool hearing stories about an area I know well. I've driven through the west hills and been to the Ute Stampede rodeo several times. I even worked there recently, doing, of all things, inspecting the train crossings in town...but I think a lot of the storytelling is also pretty universally relatable.

And good on the Killers being willing to take a risk on something that's this much of a left-turn from their usual stuff. It's also interesting to think about the fact that this album only exists because of Covid. Brandon said in the interviews that it was the isolation in lockdown that reminded him of the isolation he felt growing up in Nephi and so he started exploring those feelings and memories and writing songs about it.
 
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Hey, everyone! :wave:

Yeah, if nothing else, this album moved me enough to want to talk about it. I'm glad y'all were here for that, and I enjoy reading others' impressions of the record. It's nice to stop by here for a chat.

I agree that's it's thought-provoking how this album wouldn't exist if it weren't for Covid. I think that's true for a lot of music coming out right now. As a fan, I'm grateful that artists are just putting the songs out there, timetables and touring schedules be damned (recognizing that most artists don't have a choice about tours right now).
 
I’m getting a little obsessed with this album. I’ve listened to it all the way through like 11 times now :). I will say some of the spoken parts don’t fit quite perfectly between the songs, and there’s maybe a few clunky lyrics, but overall I’m loving it.
 
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Short documentary about the last album/town with a couple live performances. Deluxe version of Pressure Machine drops tonight.

 
I’ve been holding onto them since they went on sale as well and I might also be on a work trip in europe then. Fun times.

If I’m not, how many tickets do you have? I could buy them from ya if you can’t use them and maybe get a larger group to go
 
I'd be happy to sell them if I ended up having to travel to see the friends who gifted our city those cherry blossoms, but my wife will definitely be using them with or without me. Thus then...

We have 4 GAs. Two friends are already in, plus my wife, so it'll either be me or my wife's friend who is going.

No comment on who she'd prefer
 
New single "Boy" will be out on Friday. Brandon said its the first single from their next album.

Would be amazing to get three albums in three years from these guys.
 
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Thank you for the heads-up! I'm still hoping to see them live next month, but ticket prices are not looking good.
 
A lot of Erasure sampling!

So I saw The Killers Sunday night, with Johnny Marr opening. I wish I had time to write up a full review, but the biggest takeaway is...

I never thought I'd hear How Soon Is Now? live. That was cool.

As people were discussing in The National thread, crowds kinda suck worse than usual. We could hear the woman in front of us laughing and talking over the music - she was so fucking loud. And the people next to us filmed every song they recognized. Phones up half the show. Obnoxious.

A few other notes:

Brandon Flowers is a true showman at this point. And I liked how he said, y'all live in Phoenix. You get it. We don't have to try to explain to you where we're from.

It was great to see Dave Keuning back with the band. They need him, and their music needs him.

The Killers don't keep their influences secret. Lots of moments that reminded me of other bands, from the imagery of joshua trees to the Erasure synth line in Boy to hearing Brandon joyfully sing There Is a Light That Never Goes Out with Johnny Marr. You could tell, that's the kind of moment not lost on him.
 
I get why they do it, but I agree. Would have been better to rage to an extra Killers song at the end.
 
Last night's show in Salt Lake City featured a longer encore with a lot of Pressure Machine, unsurprisingly given the location.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-...rt-home-arena-salt-lake-city-ut-7bb34a3c.html


But, uh, yea they should keep that encore through the rest of the tour.



I’m sad they don’t really see Pressure Machine as a live album. It’s more than an atmospheric concept piece to fill time between tours. Some of those songs are close to my favourites from the band, at least since the first two records. I think West Hills would have made an epic opener over a dark arena, and In the Car Outside is way better than they seem to acknowledge.
 
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