Frontman going for the kill with new album
The Killers' singer-songwriter Brandon Flowers has deliveredhis best solo work yet with his new album
Here's one way to win Brandon Flowers' confidence: tell him you like a song of his that nobody else likes.
That was what Ariel Rechtshaid did when The Killers frontman, on the hunt for a producer for his second solo album, played Rechtshaid a demo of , which Flowers had originally written for his main band's 2012 record .
"I was kind of reluctant to play it," the singer recalls, adding that - an earnest tune about holding on to love in the face of "climate change" and "nuclear distress" - had been received less than warmly by those who'd heard it, including his Killers bandmates. "But Ariel loved it right away."
For Flowers, 33, that was a sign that the producer known for his inventive work with Vampire Weekend and the Los Angeles sister trio Haim was the right guy to partner with for his new album, - no small thing given that Rechtshaid came from outside Flowers' trusted circle.
With The Killers and on his 2010 solo debut, , the singer has collaborated with the likes of Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, all high-profile veterans of U2's late-1980s/early-'90s era.
"I think Brandon had reached a natural arc in what he was doing and needed something different," says Rechtshaid. "My deal was, 'Let's try to make the world know who you really are.'" Over a tight groove punctuated by horns in opener , Flowers describes being tantalised as a child by "promises and visions of a country unseen". The winsome considers "life without you around". And then there's , in which the singer ponders the constant churn of renewal that defines his hometown as a minimal machine beat keeping time.
"It's not as grandiose as some of the stuff I've gone for before," the singer says. Which isn't to say that he and Rechtshaid, who split recording sessions between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, resisted the urge to follow their impulses.
Among the musicians featured on the album are Kenny Aronoff, known for his drumming on John Mellencamp's early-'80s hits, and pianist Bruce Hornsby, who lends his signature sound to two tracks.
In the studio, Rechtshaid says, he and Flowers found themselves "going for a Hornsby vibe" but they couldn't quite get there on their own. "So we were like, 'Why not just reach out to him?'"
"In my experience it's pretty bulletproof, just calling people," says Flowers, who adds that he used the same approach to get Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys to appear on . "You don't think they're going to say yes. Ever. But I think they appreciate that there are people who admire their work."
These cameos aren't about exploiting name brands, Rechtshaid insists, but attaining a level of sonic legitimacy to match the "realness" of Flowers' lyrics.
It’s not as grandiose as some of the stuff I’ve gone for before
"I didn't want an imitation," says the producer, and indeed there's a specificity to many of the sounds on that elevates the music above the shallow '80s pop pastiche it might've been.
When Hornsby's distinctive piano ripples through , which also features Tony Levin on the bass-like Chapman stick, it's not taking you out of the moment; it's boosting the emotion of a song about a family man's struggle to stay connected.
Touring commitments are one part of the struggle, keeping Flowers away from home until the autumn. performed less successfully than many expected, as did The Killers' , which might be why Flowers seems to be stepping on the gas behind . "I feel like I'm going for it a little bit more," he says, citing a promotional push that helped drive the album to the top 10 of the iTunes chart last month.
For an artist famous for conveying a larger-than-life aesthetic, Flowers is remarkably unruffled by the challenge of adapting the album's relatively intimate songs to the stage. "A good song is a good song, and a small song can become a big song. I'm so used to having these giant choruses and kind of going for it. But I feel like something like could translate in a big arena," he says.
Then again, the Brandon Flowers road show is considerably more compact than that of The Killers. In recent years the band have played the Staples Centre and the Hollywood Bowl, but when Flowers' solo tour reaches Los Angeles in September, he'll be at the smaller surrounds of the Wiltern Theatre.
"Yeah, that's hard on my ego," he says with a laugh. "No, it's fine. It wasn't that long ago that The Killers were in clubs. I like big stages, it's true - I like to spread my wings. But it's cool. I mean, these shows aren't that small."
