The House Will Always Win 4 Out of 5 Stars
The ever ambitious Brandon Flowers takes the time that The Killers are on break from making music to...make music. "Flamingo," like the Springsteen influenced "Sam's Town," is another ode to Las Vegas, except this time, Flowers decides to run stylistically amok. Surprisingly enough, it works. I've come to enjoy "Flamingo" more than I did The Killers' "Day and Age."
Once again, Flowers is feeling is inner Bruce, but it seems more tempered this time. The duet with Jenny Lewis on "Hard Enough" has a softer core than most of The Killers' best songs yet rates right up there with the band for emotional impact. I suspect producer Daniel Lanois' touch in the more atmospheric sound, as Flowers allows the songs to breathe on their own. Not that Flowers resists the urge to rock; both "Crossfire" and "Was It Something I Said" could easily have been Killers songs.
What one can hope for from "Flamingo" is that maybe some of what Flowers has picked up will rub off on his regular band; I'd love to hear them take on the slow-burn build-up of a song like "Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts." Or maybe see if The Killers could take on something as tempered as "Playing With Fire." A pleasant surprise overall, "Flamingo" reinforces the notion that Flowers is a serious talent with ambition to burn.
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