Imploding the Miragerelease date: Aug. 21, 2020
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]
producer: Jonathan Rado, Shawn Everett
label: Island Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "My Own Soul’s Warning" - 2. "Blowback" - 3. "Dying Breed" - 4. "Caution" - 5. "Lightning Fields" (feat. K.d. Lang)
6th studio album by from The Killers released three years after Wonderful Wonderful (2017) and now with a somewhat lesser-known duo in the producer role. Rado and Everett are also credited as co-composers on several tracks on an album, which is the first after being momentarily reduced to a trio as guitarist Dave Keuning went on an indefinite hiatus after the 2017 album. In his place, the band's bassist Mark Stoermer handles guitar on several tracks and otherwise multi-instrumentalist Rado is credited as guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, cellist, etc.
When The Killers deliberately have chosen quite different producers, it's of course because they want a direction for the music, and with the younger guitarist from Foxygen as co-composer and multi-instrumentalist, it adds a natural turn towards a more indie rock-oriented universe - and thus also a step away from a stadium rock image that The Killers have quite rightly been attributed. There's definitely less Springsteen heartland rock on Imploding the Mirage but it's an album that doesn't quite operate in the same direction. Sometimes it's electronically driven pure synthpop sounding more like Brandon Flowers solo, while at other times it's more unpolished indie pop - though 'unpolished' is a label that pretty much never fits The Killers - and at other times attempts to produce Springsteen-rockers, whicj supposedly should be an extremely popular choice sneak in... And no, 'coherent' is not exactly a term that pops to mind.
As usual, the album performed above its capacity. Reviewers are again divided, but the sales figures don't lie, and as the sixth consecutive album, The Killers' have launched a new studio album, which goes to number #1 on the UK albums chart. Nationally, it lands a nice eighth place on the Billboard 200, while like its predecessor it also tops the list in Australia. It seems as if The Killers have long ago been satisfied running in circles, making new tracks that sound extremely familiar and then simply add a little spice here and there, e.g. outsourcing their sound image to skilled sound designers, and then something 'new' has been wrapped up.
I'm really far from impressed. The album is a long way from the their first albums but it's still better than the rather thin Wonderful Wonderful, so perhaps there's still hope for a decent album from The Killers.
Not recommended.
