The Killers - Tranquilize

If you have listened to the Killers for the last couple of years you will probably have noticed an evolution in their tunes, their material has been getting darker and darker. Their newest single “Tranquilize”, available on itunes, it will be released as a limited 7’’on the 5th of November, is a good example for this change.
Somber, is probably the word which describes best what their latest release sounds like, even their Joy Division cover of the 1979 song “Shadowplay” is not as dark, even though the lyrics and the sound of it is already quite dark. In this new song, you can hear how they are influenced by Joy Division (like so many other bands today) it is no wonder that Anton Corbijn had asked them to cover “Shadowplay” for his biopic “Closer”. And they have managed to stay away from being a carbon copy of the band when it comes to the sound and the themes of the lyrics.
“Tranquilize” their newest single, also is the opening track from their upcoming B-Sides and Rarities “Sawdust”, released out on the 12th of November. It features the front man of the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed. In this Duo Reed sings more than the Killers’ front man Brandon Flowers, who wrote the song. The sadness of the lyrics gets underlined Reed’s singing voice. The whole song has a more or less depressive touch to it, the synths have become more important, so has the bass and there is use of violins in the background.
It is something completely different from “Somebody Told Me”, Killers’ lovers might be a bit shocked by the change towards the depressive world of music. Looking at the track list from “Sawdust” leaves me wondering if the whole album will be a lot darker than the other two releases. It has “Shadowplay” on it, which is quite a sad song, and then there is “Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town” (Mel Tillis), which has some quite depressive lyrics about being paralyzed due to a war combat.

Review by Solveig Werner