Album Rating: 4.0

I too would like to start a podcast with Barack

Pitchfork lol

Album Rating: 5.0

I don't think I've agreed strongly with a Pitchfork review in a least 3 years. Their take on this album was pretty frustrating as well.

Album Rating: 4.0

"I think growing up in a town a lot like Nephi helps you appreciate this a lot more than if you grew up in an urban area or more populated suburb. Some of this sounds exactly like my hometown and makes me get nostalgic for that reason, even if I haven't lived there in over a decade." [2]



I was like halfway through and already wanted to start it again. For all of the anti-hypers in here I completely get it, because nothing is musically groundbreaking but at the same time if all you're doing is listening to the music you're missing out. This just hit different for me

Album Rating: 5.0

Same. Everything even down to the train deaths was relatable to me. So many people wanted The Killers to tone it down and create something with heart; they finally did and now they say it's boring. Sometimes you just can't win!

Album Rating: 4.0

I haven't loved anything as much as this from them since Hot Fuss so I was super surprised

Album Rating: 4.0

"I don't think this has been mentioned once in this entire thread so far, and I regret not fitting it into my review, but how about that mini-eruption at the end of Desperate Things?"



One of the peaks of the album for me. It fits with the eerie dark canyon so well

Album Rating: 3.0

hmm this has some nice lyrics and all but I'm definitely not getting the transcendent experience that Sowing and Rowan are, at least not on first listen. It's just musically forgettable most of the way through, and most of the time the lyrics have this weird detached feeling, like Flowers is touring his old hometown with the safe emotional distance of having left it.



I'll give it more spins because I'm generally a sucker for albums about the power of place (see: Suburbia I've Given You All) but this just felt... pleasant and nothing more on first listen

Album Rating: 5.0

I feel the same way, and "eerie dark canyon" is the perfect descriptor.

Anyone else feel like the Runaway Horses' melody sounds like it could have been a Simon & Garfunkel song? Something about it just feels like it was taken from Bookends, although I think they might have slightly underutilized Phoebe Bridgers there.

Album Rating: 4.5

woahhhh West Hills melody is REALLY a rip-off of Fin* by Anberlin. Can't believe I didn't catch that sooner.

Album Rating: 4.0

The string progression definitely is, Project nailed it. I missed it until he mentioned it but its totally there

Album Rating: 5.0

@Project I think the melodies are really memorable, as is the introduction of such rich Americana-influenced layers (especially the harmonicas and classical piano), so that's what the difference is for me I guess. The detachment thing is hard to confirm or deny, his career has definitely moved him away from Nephi so I could see why you'd think there's a safe distance there, but it's also his hometown, and maybe I'm just a sap but to me that's a lifelong bond and the issues of my own small town/the people I grew up with aren't diminished simply because I no longer reside there. I'll need to listen to it and then *fin consecutively when I'm not at work; I know fin by heart as a long time Anberlin fan and if they ripped off of that song then I totally missed it across several listens.

Album Rating: 3.0

"maybe I'm just a sap but to me that's a lifelong bond and the issues of my own small town/the people I grew up with aren't diminished simply because I no longer reside there."



I agree, I just don't think Flowers got that bond across and it sounded almost voyeuristic, not enough 'this is how this town made me who I am' moments (on first listen)



in fairness the *(fin) melody is pretty musically simple so it's probably been done both pre- and post-Anberlin

Album Rating: 5.0

You've made only fair points, so I'm not denying the credibility of your opinions, I just disagree strongly on the sense of voyeurism and think that it doesn't have to illustrate how it made him who he is because by his own admission in the lyrics to 'Quiet Town' it sounds like he had pretty great parents who shielded him from the town's issues ("I will walk with the dead and the living where I used to live / and every time I see my parents in the prime of their lives – offering their son the kind of love he could never put down / Well, part of me is still that stainless kid...lucky"). One could then argue that the work isn't credible because he didn't suffer, but I think you can still create something evocative that is illustrative of hundreds of other towns across America by recalling the stories of those who have.

Album Rating: 4.5

"in fairness the *(fin) melody is pretty musically simple so it's probably been done both pre- and post-Anberlin"



yeah, I don't think the killers maliciously heard Fin* and thought "lets just copy this old song!" it just sounds so similar.

Album Rating: 4.5

"Are we Human or are we Dylan620?"



MY SIGNS ARE VITAL

MY BUFFERS ARE COLD

AND I'M OOOOOOOOOONN MYYYYYYY WHEELS

Album Rating: 5.0

LOOKING FOR THE MEDS THREAD

ARE WE HUMAN

OR ARE WE DYLAN

Album Rating: 4.0

Re: Project and Sowing - I def see the voyeuristic PoV as well as Sowing's thoughts, and I probably land somewhere in between. I definitely don't find as much emotional connection to the place as much as I see his appreciation for what it is coupled with his contentment (even pleasure) leaving it behind. Maybe this is my own story I'm reflecting here, but this came across to me as an appreciation piece but gladness that he was able to kick the "strangle silk of this cobweb town"



Edit: to me a common thread throughout was that these people don't leave, don't question their situation, and just get stuck in the same rut and look for escape in various vices and things looking for fulfillment and coming up short

Album Rating: 5.0

Agree with that at least, he definitely seems happy to have risen above it. One of my favorite verses on the whole album is "Beer-drinking boy scouts living life like they ain't stuck on these quicksand streets."

Album Rating: 4.0

"Beer-drinking boy scouts living life like they ain't stuck on these quicksand streets."



Yes, totally drives the point home