Review Summary: The Nostalgia Effect
I’ve always thought Brandon Flowers was one of the more passionate frontmen in modern times. He simply loves music and wants everyone to love music as much as he does, which can tell you a lot about the sound that he produces. It’s got the obvious commercial appeal, a large amount of showman ship evident in his constant wardrobe change to artistically fit each album and an unfortunate lack of real innovation and experimentation. He tends to rely solely on the past for inspiration in his work, never looking to change the game but just to play along and have a great time. If you yourself decide to play along, I find his enjoyment becomes increasingly infectious and will hopefully lead to
The Desired Effect. I find him to be comparable to the life of the party, if he’s hyped up having a good time so are you but when he breaks down, you have trouble taking him seriously. His debut solo record
Flamingo found him breaking down more than usual and I find it to be the weakest project he’s been involved in. So when another Killers hiatus came around and Brandon announced his sophomore solo album, I was not looking too forward to this release… that was until I heard the singles.
Lead single 'Can’t Deny My Love' is incredibly catchy, immaculately produced and a lot darker than one would expect from reading the title, the lyrics suggests a one sided relationship that is falling apart or has already ended. The individual is not allowing their partner to move on and indicates their partner is attempting to escape them with concern for their own safety. Glossy yet dark synths rule this track and a hook to die for along some interesting Caribbean influences make this a standout among the album. 'Still Want You' possesses one of the cheesiest hooks I’ve heard in some time, however the excellent percussion in this song and the fact that it takes itself about as seriously as people took Vin Diesel when he said Fast and Furious 7 will win Best Picture, has led to an incredibly enjoyable if slightly empty pop song. 'Lonely Town' mixes up the song structure a bit and has Brandon’s and his newly added backing singer’s ( which play a large part in this album ) best vocal effort which is paired with the most exciting production on the album. A funky bass line drives momentum, trumpets pop in and out, a gospel like choir adds considerable weight to the chorus which builds and builds only to fall and then build up even higher to a point where the vocals swell so much they threaten to tear the song apart. Luckily, the song returns to earth and calmly reels back just before tipping over. This song isn’t as instantly likable as the previous 2 singles but it is what I think the best the album has to offer along with 'Can’t Deny My Love'.
When Brandon begins to slow things down his lack of imaginative lyrics becomes much more apparent and the song driving propulsion he has a knack for is wasted. Rarely do his quieter more emotion focused ballads pay off ('Goodnight, Travel Well' off
Day and Age is one exception) though they’re aren’t nearly as many as in
Flamingo, the ones that are here are also a little better this time around. 'The Way it’s Always Been' starts of rather uninteresting until the halfway mark, where a shift in sound with Beatle like vocals and McCartney-esque organ leads to these Tom Petty-isms taking over, closing the song and album nicely out. 'Never Get You Right' unfortunately feels a lot more tired and doesn’t really lead anywhere, it also sounds like the result of some of the previous tracks were just thrown together.
As stated Brandon Flowers has never been much for innovation, his lyrics have never been all that clever instead relying on eager eyed nostalgia hoping to keep the music he loves alive by bringing his influences to a newer generation. This stuck in the past attitude (which is surprising for an artist of his young age) I think is starting to take its toll as he and The Killers are slowly but surely becoming less relevant and like anyone would, he fears this, not to the point of sacrificing his integrity or resorting to turn his back on his heroes though. He stumbles here and there when things get slow (though I enjoy it much more than Bleachers quieter moments), I’m disappointed by the lack of focus on his voice which I think is much more unique and powerful compared to his competition, and I don’t think he will ever be involved with anything as good as
Sam’s Town (which I think is an incredibly underrated album that was consistently exciting and powerful, that felt like a middle ground of Springsteen’s
Born to Run and
Darkness on the Edge of Town only with more synth) or even
Hot Fuss. I do think however that this is a large improvement over his debut as
The Desired Effect is bursting with personality, has excellent production and is just a whole lot of 80s pop fun.
