Our thoughts: Pressure Machine, The Killers

26 May 2022

A bit of a new feature for us but we do spend a lot of time listening to music, and vinyl in particular, so we thought we would share some of our thoughts here. First up, Phil’s take on Pressure Machine, the seventh studio album from The Killers released in August last year:

“As returns on album sales dwindle rapidly these days, most musicians need to go on the road to earn their keep. The previous album from Las Vegas band ‘The Killers’ was recorded just before lockdown and released in the middle of it during 2020. They never even got a chance to tour with it.

Therefore, ‘Pressure Machine’ is their second album within 12 months. It seems that this release has brought the band back down to earth, especially for the lead singer Brandon Flowers who was born in a small town in Utah, USA. Reliving his past, he takes us through his teenage years, with awkward scenes, poignant moments and some very touching ones as well. Most tracks involve an opening narrative by a local town person, describing an event that happened and briefly re-living it in the process. The song’s lyrics then follow this introduction as its main theme.

Brandon’s songs are about real memories involving poor opportunities, hard times and the ever-increasing small town drug abuse. For me, it is a brilliant album, full of sublime song writing and great melodies, sung with a mixture of powerful vocals and tender moments.

It reminds me of another great album recorded during lockdown by Taylor Swift, an artist I wouldn’t usually be drawn to. But ‘Folklore’ had me hooked and was followed closely by a further album release a few months later titled ‘Evermore’. Both ‘Pressure Machine’ and ‘Folklore/Evermore’ are similar in many ways in their descriptions of characters and song structures, but very different in delivery. Both are highly enjoyable and have resonated with me and my hi-fi system over the last several months.

Enjoy
Phil”