Like their countrymen Foster the People, Las Vegas-based quartet Imagine Dragons are the quintessential contemporary rock band, combining Coldplay-style choruses with, in their own words, “weird stuff”. In truth, Smoke + Mirrors isn’t weird at all, its electronic-flecked songs designed for adolescents who find Arcade Fire too edgy and are quite fond of house. Occasionally, as on the invigorating Gold – soundtrack to a futuristic spaghetti western – they stumble on a sound that is their own. But their second album is largely flat-packed stadium pop at its most anonymous.
