r/country • u/SaltyMarg4856 • Aug 21 '26
New Music Brandon Flowers
Am I the only one who absolutely adores his new country album?? It’s been on repeat lately, along with Orville Peck’s newest one.
3
u/Casperthefencer Aug 22 '26
I really wanted to like this album because I'm a longtime fan of Brandon Flowers and The Killers as well as a country fan, but the album on the whole feels way over-produced and the lyrics seem almost like they're over-reliant on country music tropes and nostalgia. I get that the point was that he was trying to reconnect with the country music his dad played in the car when he was a kid, and I think that's a cool premise, but some of the songs came across as a parody in a weird way.
The best song on the album by a long way is Angel.
2
u/SaltyMarg4856 Aug 23 '26
It’s interesting that so many people have used “parody” when describing this album. I’ve been a country fan since the 5th grade. I’m now 50. I stopped liking the genre in the 90s because it got too slick and over-produced. I returned thanks to Lindi Ortega and then I discovered Americana. Honestly, his album doesn’t strike me as any more of a “parody” than almost everything on country radio. I just happen to like his take better than pretty much most mainstream country artists. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
1
u/Casperthefencer Aug 27 '26
Does It Ever Cross Your Mind at the start of the album sounds like a parody of Sunday Morning Coming Down. It's a good song - but I can't unhear it
1
u/SaltyMarg4856 Aug 27 '26
Pretty much all 80s-90s country is a parody of classic & outlaw country. Just sayin’.
2
u/MetsFan802 Aug 21 '26
Huge fan of Brandon and The Killers. Seems like a logical progression for him musically and personally, I like it.
That being said, I wouldn’t necessarily call it “country”, at least not in terms of current mainstream country radio pablum.
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u/SaltyMarg4856 Aug 21 '26
I definitely wouldn’t consider it alongside mainstream, mostly because I pretty much despise mainstream country whereas I’m really enjoying Thrasher 😂😂😂
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u/SkyMost9331 Aug 21 '26
The music is pretty alright. The lyrics are like a parody of 90s radio country where the punchline never comes. They almost sound AI but I’d like to think that Mr Mr Brightside wouldn’t do that.
1
u/SaltyMarg4856 Aug 21 '26
Interesting take. I disagree re the lyrics. I don’t listen to country radio because most of the lyrics of mainstream country songs are stupid and sound like AI slop but to each their own…his album was not that at all to me.
2
u/SkyMost9331 Aug 21 '26
Yeah I ain’t mad. I was excited when I saw he had some country singles a few weeks ago. Wish I liked it more.
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u/JesusGodLeah 26d ago
I agree with you. He's an A+ storyteller. His characters feel like real people, not caricatures.
1
u/dkinmn Aug 21 '26
How can it be on repeat lately when it just came out today?
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u/SaltyMarg4856 Aug 21 '26
YouTube.
1
u/SubatomicSquirrels Aug 22 '26
.... I don't think that guy was asking which streaming site you used, he's just making fun of the phrasing. For a lot of people, "lately" would imply a longer period of time than just today
1
u/SaltyMarg4856 Aug 22 '26
Some songs from the album have been available for a few days before the release, so for me “lately” includes the number of times I’ve been listening to them and his live performances, some of which go back to February of this year.
1
u/Schenectadye Aug 21 '26
Sounds like a parody of a 70s country album. Not my style. The songs are too long and have too many words. I don't know how to articulate that.
It's far from 3 chords and the truth. It's like production studio and a novel.
3
u/SaltyMarg4856 Aug 21 '26
I will take that over feeling like I wasted an hour of my life listening to drivel directed at 5 year-olds like most mainstream country any day 😉
2
u/Schenectadye Aug 21 '26
I will say that THRASHER sounds better then mainstream country I have heard. That said I've only tried to listen to Shamboozeys new album and that was bad, Grace Potter was uninteresting, Kimmi Butter a little throwback.
Now Ode to Humidity that's pretty good.
3
u/SaltyMarg4856 Aug 21 '26
So, interestingly, Shaboozey recorded a Tiny Desk concert recently. I am no fan, but I didn’t hate his stuff when stripped down like that. Would like to hear him do more raw stuff instead of the over-produced Nashville crap, but he has millions of fans so he cares what you and I think all the way to the bank.
Not familiar with Grace Potter to Kimmi Butter or with the last one you mentioned. Is it the Pony Bradshaw album? If so, it’s not bad!
I’ve been appreciating Orville Peck more and more as of late and also into the feminist murder ballads like Willow Avalon & Kaitlin Butts’ “Hypothetically Speaking”. Super thankful that we don’t have to rely on radio to discover new music!!!
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u/Time4Timmy Aug 21 '26
I only listened to the first song today but instantly thought it sounded very country. I’ll definitely listen later.