Day & Age [PA]

Performer: The Killers (US)
Artist: Tommy Marth; Daniel De Los Reyes
Engineer: Robert Root
Producer: The Killers; Stuart Price
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: The Killers (US): Brandon Flowers, Mark Stoermer, Ronnie Vannucci, David Keuning. Audio Mixer: Stuart Price. On their third proper full-length, DAY & AGE, the Killers blend the glitzy glam of their smash debut, HOT FUSS, and the heartland rock of its follow-up, SAM'S TOWN, while throwing some stylistic curveballs along the way. Like HOT FUSS, DAY & AGE focuses on hooks and an energetic, highly polished sound. Yet it still manages to incorporate the experimental ambitions of its predecessor, this time out with a penchant for genre-hopping pastiche. Brazilian, blue-eyed soul, disco, and Afro-beat can be heard, all threaded into the Killers' trademark dance-rock. But even while expanding their arrangements with saxophones (on the attention-grabbing opener, "Losing Touch") and steel drums (the tropical and immensely catchy "I Can't Stay), the Killers haven't lost their love of 1980s synth-pop. The anthemic "Human" is a case in point, proving that the New Wave influences that gave the band its initial appeal are still intact. Buffered by gleaming, pristine production, DAY & AGE soars and seduces; it's irrefutable proof that even as the Las Vegas quartet mixes up their sound, the appeal of their button-pushing pop endures. 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 fa�ades 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 � 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

Rolling Stone (p.120) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "When the Killers really push the theatrics, they shine: 'Spaceman' re-imagines New Order's 'Temptation' as an alien-abduction anthem with a great singalong chorus." Spin (p.99) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "They remain fascinated by heartland mythos, but by becoming more comfortable with their glitzy roots, they've actually found the pulse of something more authentic." Entertainment Weekly (p.74) - "[S]inger Brandon Flowers and the band construct an album that is one-third Duran Duran glam, one-third Bono majestic, and one-third fresh retro." Billboard (p.41) - "Here the band trades in the slick mega hooks and stadium-sized rockers for steel drums, bongos and a whole lotta sax....This band keeps fans on their toes...' Clash (magazine) (p.63) - Ranked #35 in Clash's "The 40 Best Albums of 2008" -- "[A] brave change in direction towards a glorious, glossy pop sound..."

Though a batch of 1980s-New Wave-inspired bands started making noise in the early 2000s, it wasn't until the Killers' 2004 debut album HOT FUSS (and its crossover hits "Somebody Told Me" and "Mr. Brightside") that the style really broke through to the mainstream. Heavily indebted to the likes of the Smiths, Psychedelic Furs, et al, the Las Vegas, NV quartet brought a contemporary sense of urgency to their retro-loving dance-rock sound and taught a new generation of kids that it doesn't have to be disco to be dance music. For follow-up SAM'S TOWN, the group obviously feasted on a gorge of Bruce Springsteen style rock, and while the sound boasted a slightly harder edge, the group retained the critics' and fans' adoration.

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