The two tracks that we’d heard from The Killers’ fifth studio album, Wonderful Wonderful, made sense. “The Man,” the album’s first single, had the sort of polished disco vibe that the band had occasionally flirted with in their decade-long career of synth-guided pop. “Run for Cover,” an urgent pop-rock track that could have been borrowed from Sam’s Town, will fit nicely alongside the band’s hits when they headline festivals.
“Wonderful Wonderful” is the first track on the album of the same name, and it shares none of that logic. It opens with what sounds like a lonesome war horn, some muffled drums, and gives way to a laconic bassline. Brandon Flowers drifts round the mix like he’s throwing his voice about an abandoned warehouse. By the time the chorus has kicked in—a big wheeze of “Motherless child”—it’s all clearly very U2.
Videos by VICE
The Killers are classic rock now and I’m fine with that. Listen to “Wonderful Wonderful” below.
Follow Alex Robert Ross on Twitter.