Brandon Flowers
'Flamingo'
Killers crooner mistakenly cranks up the melodrama
Never one for understatement, alternative pop's most sincere showman resurrects '80s classic-rock clichés on a Vegas-themed solo debut that suggests the Killers' Sam's Town recorded with lackluster studio cats. Minimized guitar bluster emphasizes his ample vocal assets, but Flowers wilts when the sunny tempos subside, revealing himself to be an AOR softie. Most tunes lack his usual group's catchiness; wordy, self-consciously mythic lyrics convolute what melodies there are. The Lou Reed-y final track "Swallow It" flirtatiously underplays what's often overstated elsewhere, and suggests a path otherwise not taken -- a much more fun one.
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