VVIBE CHECKING: PRESSURE MACHINE

I called it last year when I vvibe checked Imploding the Mirage, they have found their voice and now The Killers are back with a beautiful album.

It really surprised me when they announced another album so soon, especially after the 3 years between Wonderful Wonderful and Imploding the Mirage. I can’t say I was expecting it but it was silly not to, having found their voice, why wouldn’t they use it.

Although different from the previous albums, it doesn't feel experimental, it’s confident and graceful. It doesn’t waver like Lover by Taylor Swift or Father of all… by Green day, it plants its feet on the ground and tells a story.

Pressure Machine reminds me a lot of Sam’s Town, to me it’s their second album but earthy, mature and artistic. It’s not as personal but the recurring themes are still there; The difficult relationships, the small town blues, the wanderlust. 

This album has very little divine in it, there’s almost no sky, it feels grounded in many ways. The story that is told itself is one of people tied to a small town, to their “birthright”, people who would have been different in another place, in another life. People who wanted more.

It didn't make me cross my heart like Flesh and Bone or Neon Tiger, but it got me dancing at 8 am, it got me laughing just because the way it sounds makes me feel all this energy. My favourite songs were In The Car Outside and In Another Life, for some reason they are like tasting something that makes you wonder how you lived without it until now, they just taste like the first jagerbomb I ever had that good in the mouth, the kind of song that every line, every progression, hits you like it wasn’t what you expected but it’s so, so much better.

I feel like it's a fever dream album, it’s conceptual, there are characters that I haven't understood just yet because I only listened to it like 3 times. Much like folklore and evermore by Taylor Swift, the personal elements are weaved through the lyrics in a way that’s almost imperceptible, something that is very new to this band. Brandon has always written lyrics that are closely tied with his own experiences and views on love, religion, everything really, so it’s amazing to see this kind of distance because it feels new to us but it’s probably also new to him and the rest of the band. 

In my last post about them I said Imploding the Mirage, an album that I am dying to listen to live,“was like hearing someone who finally got to the place they were supposed to be, like breathing deeply after holding your breath for a little too long.” and this is what happens after. Pressure Machine feels like having fun in this immaterial place, like vvibing just because they can, so there are violins and harmonicas, songs that feel like theirs but another side of them, a side we haven’t seen until now but it’s amazing and exciting and I hope to see more.