Phil Mongredien 

Brandon Flowers: The Desired Effect review – thrillingly 80s-style pop

Brandon Flowers’s new album is a far from progressive piece of work, but its appeal is undeniable
  
  

Brandon Flowers
Brandon Flowers performing in Los Angeles, in April. Photograph: Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for Samsung Photograph: Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for Samsung

Brandon Flowers’s 2010 solo debut, Flamingo, seemed like an extension of his work with the Killers – essentially, blue-collar Springsteenisms given a U2 stadium sheen. The follow-up, produced by Charli XCX collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid, is a very different affair, Flowers’s flair for a hook harnessed to an unashamedly pop-leaning set of songs. In clumsier hands, Can’t Deny My Love might come across like a pastiche of 80s sounds, from its gated drums to its huge chorus, but the effect is triumphant here. Even better – and even more 80s-indebted – is I Can Change, built on a Bronski Beat sample. It’s hardly a forward-looking album, but nonetheless highly enjoyable.

 

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