Key to the Killers’ charm was never the rock’n’roll allure of reckless hedonism. No, Brandon Flowers’s band, and his subsequent solo projects, are based on something more slick and mercurial. It’s music that zealously welcomes you into the confetti-filled party before hastily asking you to take off your shoes. Despite toying with the odd bit of experimentation, this followup to his 2010 debut, Flamingo, is largely evocative of 80s drivetime pop-rock – Paul Simon circa Graceland; Status Quo; the smell of lambskin driving gloves. Its unusual lineup of collaborators – including the Dirty Projectors’ Angel Deradoorian, percussionist Joey Waronker and Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant – looks intriguing on paper, but their contributions are often barely audible; Danielle Haim’s appearance is a natural meeting of minds, however. The highlight is I Can Change, a song built around the evocative refrain of Bronski Beat’s classic Smalltown Boy – borrowing, for a moment, someone else’s cry of candid emotion.
