ADRIAN THRILLS: Lockdown sank their tour but thanks to some star cameos on their new release, the Killers are in full bloom
THE KILLERS: Imploding The Mirage (EMI)
Rating:
Verdict: Rousing anthems
THE WATERBOYS: Good Luck, Seeker (Cooking Vinyl)
Rating:
Verdict: Expansive Celtic rock
ERASURE: The Neon (Mute)
Rating:
Verdict: Sparkling electro-pop
They have loosened their ties with their home town of Las Vegas, lost a key band member and seen their stadium tour sunk by lockdown.
If The Killers had decided to make their sixth album a low-key affair, nobody would have been surprised. But Imploding The Mirage is nothing of the sort.
Despite being delayed by three months because of coronavirus, it’s an exemplary Killers collection powered by driving guitars, electronics and singer Brandon Flowers’ big-hearted songs of perseverance and escape. It also sees the band, usually so self-contained, work with an impressive supporting cast.
It has certainly been informed by recent upheavals. After 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful — an LP inspired partly by Brandon’s wife Tana’s struggle with crippling depression — the singer and his family moved from the gaudy glitter of Vegas, where Flowers once worked as a bellhop, to the mountains of Park City, Utah.
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If The Killers had decided to make their sixth album a low-key affair, nobody would have been surprised. But Imploding The Mirage is nothing of the sort. Brandon Flowers is pictured above in concert in December
That change of scenery coincided with the first cracks in the line-up of a previously solid quartet.
Guitarist Dave Keuning, whose ‘musicians wanted’ advert kick-started the group in 2001, began an ongoing sabbatical, while bassist Mark Stoermer went part-time: he plays on some songs here but no longer tours.
Flowers, 39, and drummer Ronnie Vannucci have filled the gaps with outside help. Of their guest stars, the most prominent is backing singer Natalie Mering — aka Weyes Blood — who adds nuance and harmony in a manner reminiscent of Deacon Blue’s Lorraine McIntosh or Prefab Sprout’s Wendy Smith in the 1980s.
There are also big-ticket cameos from former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham — a blistering solo on Caution — and k.d. lang, whose jazzy tones add uplift on Lightning Fields. Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, of LA band Lucius, also contribute.
Far from diluting The Killers’ impact, the collaborative approach seems to have renewed confidence.
‘I wanted to represent this new beauty I’ve discovered in my life,’ Flowers says.
To prove the point, he delivers line after line about weights being lifted and stormy skies clearing. ‘When everyone’s compromising, I’ll be your diehard,’ he promises on Dying Breed.
Subtlety isn’t on the agenda, although the vividly-drawn protagonists of Blowback and Caution showcase Flowers’ ability to coin a blue-collar narrative. The former portrays a young woman heading away from her woes, ‘sitting on a secret she didn’t ask for’. Caution tells of a Vegas dancer’s daughter leaving town before she ‘finally burns it down’.
In keeping with the mood of rejuvenation, the music is rousing. My Own Soul’s Warning is all Born To Run drums and glockenspiel. Running Towards A Place is a fusion of heartland Americana and electronic pop.
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Waterboys singer and guitarist Mike Scott (above) embraces a typically rich mix on the final album of a homemade trilogy that began with 2017’s Out Of All This Blue and continued with 2019’s impassioned rock and soul revue Where The Action Is
There are departures, too, with Dying Breed featuring samples from German synth pioneers Neu! and Can, and Blowback illuminated by special effects from Adam Granduciel, of U.S. band The War On Drugs.
It’s a shame we won’t be hearing these songs live; at least for a while. The stadium stage would have been a perfect setting for this new material but The Killers have put all shows back to next year. ‘The idea of returning to normal is farther along than we thought,’ admits Flowers. But for all the obstacles in its path, Imploding The Mirage is a welcome return.
Waterboys singer and guitarist Mike Scott embraces a typically rich mix on the final album of a homemade trilogy that began with 2017’s Out Of All This Blue and continued with 2019’s impassioned rock and soul revue Where The Action Is.
Cooked up in his Dublin studio — with his band working remotely — Good Luck, Seeker is Scott at his boldest.
It picks up where its predecessor left off. Accompanied by Motown-style horns, The Soul Singer is an affectionate tribute to a pop legend. Scott, 61, refuses to name the ‘old gunslinger’ in question, but his clues suggest he’s talking about Van Morrison: ‘They call him curmudgeon, say he’s a churl, stories follow him round the world.’
From there, the first part of the album combines folk numbers with further tributes: one to the late Dennis Hopper; another to The Rolling Stones. The second part is dominated by literary references, spoken-word lyrics and expansive, sometimes over-elaborate rock.
In 1984, Scott coined the term ‘big music’ to describe his grandiose sound. It certainly applies again here.
Electronic duo Erasure get back to basics on an album that reiterates Vince Clarke’s talent as a pop craftsman. Having addressed the state of the nation on 2017’s downbeat World Be Gone, Clarke and singer Andy Bell are in their element on upfront songs built around clever chord changes and full-bodied vocals.
The Neon, according to Bell, is ‘a place from the imagination that we put in the real world — it could be a nightclub, shop, city or cafe’. As a metaphor for the times, it’s apt, and the theme carries over into Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling), a song about wandering alone through city streets.
There’s further yearning on Nerves Of Steel, but any melancholy is countered by sparkling melodies, with Kid You’re Not Alone a catchy falsetto ballad and Shot A Satellite harking back to Clarke’s time in Yazoo.
All albums are out today. The Killers start a tour on May 25, 2021, at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster (gigsandtours.com). The Waterboys headline the Black Deer Festival, Kent, on June 19, 2021 (mikescottwaterboys.com).
Swedish sisters take the country road
When Willie Nelson penned his country standard On The Road Again for the 1980 film Honeysuckle Rose, it was an innocent homage to a musician’s touring life.
The Grammy-winning song’s sentiments have taken on a different tone in lockdown, with musicians no longer on the road. So there’s a poignancy to a new cover version by sister act First Aid Kit.
The Swedish duo, Johanna and Klara Soderberg, have been quiet since 2018’s Ruins LP and EP Tender Offerings, but their tuneful, pedal steel-driven interpretation of Nelson’s hit single feels relevant, with proceeds going to the Crew Nation charity for backstage workers.
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The Grammy-winning song’s sentiments have taken on a different tone in lockdown, with musicians no longer on the road
With a planned Las Vegas residency off, Shania Twain has been busy recording duets, following her Ronan Keating collaboration by teaming up with fellow country star Orville Peck on the dazzling ballad Legends Never Die. The single is from Peck’s new Show Pony EP.
Another striking duet sees Alicia Keys combining with R&B singer Khalid on the ballad So Done, while Prince’s archives have yielded another taster for October’s deluxe reissue of Sign O’ The Times.
The previously unreleased Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 2) is a shot of multi-tracked keyboard funk.