Day & Age [PA] (CD - 2008)

Audio Mixer: Stuart Price.

On their third proper full-length, DAY & AGE, the Killers blend the glitzy glam of their smash debut, HOT FUSS, and the heartland rock of its follow-up, SAM'S TOWN, while throwing some stylistic curveballs along the way. Like HOT FUSS, DAY & AGE focuses on hooks and an energetic, highly polished sound. Yet it still manages to incorporate the experimental ambitions of its predecessor, this time out with a penchant for genre-hopping pastiche. Brazilian, blue-eyed soul, disco, and Afro-beat can be heard, all threaded into the Killers' trademark dance-rock.

But even while expanding their arrangements with saxophones (on the attention-grabbing opener, "Losing Touch") and steel drums (the tropical and immensely catchy "I Can't Stay), the Killers haven't lost their love of 1980s synth-pop. The anthemic "Human" is a case in point, proving that the New Wave influences that gave the band its initial appeal are still intact. Buffered by gleaming, pristine production, DAY & AGE soars and seduces; it's irrefutable proof that even as the Las Vegas quartet mixes up their sound, the appeal of their button-pushing pop endures. minimize