Following a 6 year run of recording and touring, most musicians would be ready to take a well earned break. Not Brandon Flowers: when his bandmates announced that they were taking a rest, The Killers frontman responded not by following suit, but by releasing a solo album.
The album is largely themed towards Flowers' hometown Las Vegas: the extravagant opening track is called 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas', and the album title itself is inspired by the 'Flamingo' casino. In addition, the synthesisers used with The Killers have been largely replaced with slide guitar, which is predominantly included in the aforementioned opening track, 'Only the Young', 'Playing With Fire' and amidst the subtle harmonies of 'Hard Enough' - an infectious duet with the Vegas born singer Jenny Lewis.
Brandon Flowers has stated that religion is a very important part of his life - something which he has made clear in 'Flamingo', which contains almost too many religious references to mention: Flowers declares "Father thy will be done" in 'Only the Young' and mentions "the Devil" and "Heaven and Hell" in the album's astounding first single 'Crossfire'. The song in which Flowers' personality is most prevalent is undoubtedly 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas', in which Flowers creates parallels between religion and Vegas: he notes it's "Neon encrusted temples", refers to men handing out flyers for strippers and nightclubs as "Disciples" handing out "catalogues of concubines" and cries "Hosanna" - all within the first verse.
This isn't to say that the religious aspects of the songs cause the album to be 41 minutes of preaching: most songs absorb you with their charm, such as the playful 'Was It Something That I Said?' with it's funky bassline, bright synthesisers and engrossing story of a man's distress when his lover "Valentina" unexpectedly leaves him for a drug dealer. Other songs such as 'Magdalena' captivate the listener using a combination of tuneful melodies and the somewhat enigmatic tale of a journey "from Nogales to Magdalena".
Flowers has not entirely detached himself from The Killers with 'Flamingo' - the album was recorded mostly in the recording studio owned by the band, and on the tracks 'Playing With Fire' and 'Crossfire' Ronnie Vannucci Jr. makes an appearance on the drums. Furthermore, several of the songs on the album were originally written to be part of the follow up to 'Day & Age', which is unsurprising to discover given the unmistakable Killers sound of songs such as 'Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts'.
The beauty of 'Flamingo' is that with songs like 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' and 'Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts' it is easy to imagine them being most at home on a colossal stage, accompanied by a show of spectacular, almost circus-like grandeur, whereas the more heartfelt songs such as 'Hard Enough' and 'On The Floor' could achieve similar effect in an intimate, perhaps fully acoustic setting.
Ultimately 'Flamingo' seems to be not only Flowers proving his musical competence, but also him revealing a little more about his personality, and in doing so tentatively experimenting with creating music ever so slightly different to what we would expect to hear were this the next Killers release.
Stereoboard Rating: 7/10
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The album is largely themed towards Flowers' hometown Las Vegas: the extravagant opening track is called 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas', and the album title itself is inspired by the 'Flamingo' casino. In addition, the synthesisers used with The Killers have been largely replaced with slide guitar, which is predominantly included in the aforementioned opening track, 'Only the Young', 'Playing With Fire' and amidst the subtle harmonies of 'Hard Enough' - an infectious duet with the Vegas born singer Jenny Lewis.
