Pressure Machine

by The Killers

Overview

Less than a year after the release of their critically acclaimed sixth album Imploding the Mirage, the Killers returned with the melancholic Pressure Machine, a stark rumination on small-town life set to the most pensive, yet touching soundscapes in their catalog to date. This is not a typical Killers album: stripped of their typical Vegas bombast, rousing anthems, and glittering showmanship, the set reveals the dark side of the Sam's Town trailer park, a place of depression, fundamentalism, desperation, and violence. Yet it's also a place where doors remain unlocked at night, kids go hunting and dirt bike riding, and a quiet sense of pride courses through the souls of the God-fearing. Steeped in personal memories and fleshed-out by stories of people from his hometown of Nephi, Utah (snippets of interviews from current locals introduce each song on the album), Pressure Machine finds frontman Brandon Flowers in reflective mode, meditating on provincial American life through a strikingly personal lens. Channeling these assorted townsfolk -- blue-collar laborers, addicts, suicidal teens, and the blissfully insular -- Flowers maintains his position as one of his generation's most effective storytellers, capturing the resignation of a small town where residents don't mind that they've "never seen the ocean" because the ultimate treasure awaits "way up high" in heaven. Despite these bleak views of a suffocated population of humble people just trying to get by, he's careful to respect their stories, creating a patchwork of experiences that is oddly beautiful and heartfelt. From the high school sweethearts who never left town ("We'll be here forever," the interviewee says at the start of the sweeping, string-backed opener "West Hills") to the ones who felt they only had one way to escape (on the devastating "Terrible Thing"), listeners are plunged into this world, meeting a cast of characters that are humanized and utterly relatable. While not a cheerful listen, the album works best as a narrative experience, a series of cinematic peeks behind the curtain of everyday life, like on the pastoral "Runaway Horses," where guest vocalist Phoebe Bridgers backs Flowers as he frames the horror of a rodeo girl and her injured steed into a moving coming-of-age tale that is at once intimate and absolutely beautiful. Through these weighty snapshots, the band -- a reunited Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer, and Ronnie Vannucci -- relies on simplicity and restraint with acoustic guitars, harmonica, sweeping strings, and modest percussion. For fans in search of those trademark synths, sky-high guitars, and galloping drums, there are only a few moments that get the toes tapping (the Springsteen-with-synths of "Quiet Town," the driving synth pop of "In the Car Outside," and the full-bodied rocker "In Another Life"). Otherwise, Pressure Machine remains dour and bittersweet. This matured focus on concept and mood saves the album from becoming an odd catalog misstep, serving instead as a dignified artistic exercise that rewards the band's bravery by becoming the most heartfelt and poignant statement of their careers. ~ Neil Z. Yeung

Product Details

Release Date:	08/13/2021
Label:	Emi / Island
UPC:	0602438291793

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Killers   Primary Artist
Lucius   Primary Artist,Vocals (Background)
Phoebe Bridgers   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist
Brady Henrie   Slide Guitar
Brandon Flowers   Organ,Piano,Vocals,Synthaxe,Synthesizer
Nate Walcott   Trumpet
Jake Blanton   Bass,Guitar,Glockenspiel,Vocals (Background)
Mars Williams   Saxophone
Matthew Davidson   Pedal Steel,Pedal Steel
Rob Moose   Strings
Ronnie Vannucci   Drums,Guitar,Percussion
Vincent Huma   Guitar
Melissa McMillan   Vocals (Background)
Anjolee Williams   Vocals (Background)
Matt Davidson   Pedal Steel
Shawn Everett   Piano
Joe Pug   Guitar,Harmonica
Griffin Goldsmith   Vocals (Background)
Charles "Chuck Heat" Henderson   Vocals (Background)
Gabriel Cabezas   Cello
Taylor Goldsmith   Vocals (Background)
Erica Canales   Vocals (Background)
Robbie Connolly   Bass,Guitar
Jonathan Rado   Bass,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Mandolin,Synthaxe,Harmonica,Synthesizer
Sara Watkins   Fiddle,Violin
David Keuning   Guitar,Pedal Steel

Technical Credits

Raoul Ahmad   Engineer,Recording
Alec Eitram   Engineer,Recording
Brandon Flowers   Composer,Group Member,Art Direction
Emily Lazar   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Matt Breunig   Engineer,Recording
Paul Lane   Package Production
Tobie Speleman   Recording
Wes Johnson   Photography
Ziggy Chareton   A&R
Chris Allgood   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Will Maclellan   Engineer,Recording
Jed Jones   Engineer,Recording
Alec Eitrem   Recording
Rias Reed   Engineer,Recording
Robert Machoian   Photography
Adrian Olsen   Recording
Shawn Everett   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Recording
Gabrielle Rosen   A&R
Joe Spix   Design,Art Direction
Robert Root   Engineer,Recording
Jonathan Rado   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Recording
Mark Stoermer   Group Member
Ronnie Vannucci   Composer,Group Member
David Keuning   Composer,Group Member