The Killers: Day & Age

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Nick Catucci wrote in New York: "[T]he Killers redeem themselves with their new Day & Age, abandoning (for the most part) their pretensions and coming to terms with who they really are: cheesy pop geniuses. … Producer Stuart Price … helped the band concoct ten different sounds, one for each of Day & Age’s songs. Want a taste of Tropicália? Skip to 'I Can’t Stay.' The steel drums of 'Joy Ride' channel the Clash channeling world music. And on 'Human,' the album’s first single, that’s none other than a rippling, house-music synthesizer hook, as universal a marker of musical Gouda as adult contemporary’s saxophone solos. Did we mention there are sax solos, too? … The disc ultimately hangs together on mood; Price unfailingly accentuates the bright, shiny, and happy. This not only makes good pop sense, it provides an effective counterbalance to [singer-keyboardist Brandon] Flowers and his achy-breaky vocals. Though he oozes showbiz in his personal style, Flowers was raised Mormon and is married to a schoolteacher. This homespun side of him is amply exhibited in his lyrics" ("See Ya, Springsteen," 12/1/08, p. 82).