Frontman going for the kill with 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 Still Want You, which Flowers had originally written for his main band's 2012 record Battle Born.

"I was kind of reluctant to play it," the singer recalls, adding that Still Want You - 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, The Desired Effect - no small thing given that Rechtshaid came from outside Flowers' trusted circle.

With The Killers and on his 2010 solo debut, Flamingo, 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.

The change in personnel inspired a welcome creative shift: rather than build on Flowers' reputation for sweeping, ultra-dramatic arena rock, The Desired Effect (which came out Monday) goes smaller and more personal, with weirder, funkier arrangements and lyrics that reflect his upbringing as a Mormon in Las Vegas and his life as the married father of three young children.