The Killers — Day & Age

I strongly disliked The Killers' Hot Fuss and Sam's Town and thought I'd feel similarly about Day & Age. But I didn't. See, The Killers' music is a bit like frontman Brandon Flowers' fashion sense: it's all over the place, ridiculously flamboyant and usually comes across as unintentionally comedic. On Day & Age, The Killers are still stuck obsessing with Bruce Springsteen and '80s synth-pop, but they've added some new stylistic influences into the mix. Opener "Losing Touch" pulled me in with the Las Vegas band's trademark ridiculous synths on top of saxophones that sound like they should be played by a member of the E-Street Band. "OK," I thought, "it has to get worse after this, right?" Well, I found "Human" infectious despite its dumb-dumb, Hunter S. Thompson-inspired chorus ("Are we human/Or are we dancer?"). And I can't deny that the combination of Franz Ferdinand and Spanish guitar on "Joy Ride" makes the song better than anything The Killers have ever done. I'll probably have the hook from "A Dustland Fairytale" stuck in my head for a few days, too. The stylistic mish-mash on Day & Age shouldn't work and should come across as ludicrous, just like Flowers' clothes, and make no mistake — there's absolutely nothing new here. But nonetheless, it somehow holds up and results in the best album of The Killers' career. Fuck preconceived notions, I guess.

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