Maps of Music

Pressure Machine (2021)

Where the lyrics of Pressure Machine take you, and where it was really made.

The album began as a plan that the pandemic ruined: the Imploding the Mirage Tour was postponed, and the band's next record became a concept album about a small town in Utah.

Key places

Recording studio in Las Vegas (2021)

Recording site Battle Born Studios — The recording location listed for Pressure Machine is Battle Born Studios in Las Vegas. The band chose analog recording methods for the album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Pressure Machine: seventh studio album by American rock band the Killers
• Released August 13, 2021 on Island Records
• Concept album based on lead singer Brandon Flowers' childhood in Nephi, Utah
• Features guest singer Phoebe Bridgers on the track "Runaway Horses"
• Jonathan Rado and Shawn Everett returned to produce the album
• Guitarist Dave Keuning returned to the studio with the band
• Bassist Mark Stoermer was absent due to difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during recording

Background

• The album originated in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic
• The Killers realized the planned Imploding the Mirage Tour would have to be postponed
• The band briefly considered using songs left over from Imploding the Mirage for the next album
• They instead chose to embrace a concept record based on Brandon Flowers' childhood
• Drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. said the choice came from a strong shared emotion, especially Brandon's
• Dave Keuning rejoined the band in the studio after completing his solo album A Mild Case of Everything, released in June 2021
• Heavily influenced by Bruce Springsteen
• Lyrical influences include The Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck and Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
• The album was released less than a year after Imploding the Mirage

Recording

• Flowers decided to write all the lyrics before writing the album's music
• The band chose analog recording methods
• Flowers said the band kept the process simple and made few changes during mixing
• Sonic inspiration came from Johnny Cash, John Prine, and Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska
• Influence for the spoken word interludes came from the radio program This American Life
• The listed recording studio is Battle Born Studios in Las Vegas

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals).
• Mark Stoermer (bass, rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (drums, percussion) joined in 2002, completing the lineup.
• The name comes from a fictional band in the music video for the New Order song "Crystal".

Members

• Brandon Flowers: lead vocals, keyboards, synthesizer.
• Dave Keuning: guitar, backing vocals; on hiatus since 2017, returned in 2020.
• Ronnie Vannucci Jr.: drums, percussion.
• Mark Stoermer: bass, backing vocals; on hiatus 2020–2022.

Career

• Seven studio albums, each topping the UK Albums Chart, from Hot Fuss (2004) to Pressure Machine (2021).
• Sold more than 35 million records worldwide and performed in over 50 countries.
• Annual Christmas singles for Product Red from 2006 to 2016 raised over $1 million for AIDS-related charity.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: average score 79 out of 100 from 22 reviews, indicating generally favourable reviews
• AllMusic (Neil Z. Yeung): the matured focus on concept and mood saved the album from becoming an odd catalog misstep
• Clash (Robin Murray): the album is perhaps the closest the band has come to its own emotional core
• The Guardian (Damien McCormick): called it the band's best album in years and an uncharacteristically reflective album
• KXRK, a Utah radio station: praised its authenticity in capturing life in rural Utah
• The Independent (Helen Brown): less positive, saying the lyrics would work better with a conversational tone
• The Line of Best Fit (Steven Loftin): praised the album for being different from the band's earlier, jubilant indie-trenched records
• NME: described it as a homecoming of discreet intentions, with modesty and subtlety that suit the band
• Paste (Candace McDuffie): said the emotional turmoil made it a thrilling and somewhat frightful experience
• Pitchfork (Shaad D'Souza): critical, saying Flowers' usual wide-tipped style could not do justice to finely detailed scenes
• Slant Magazine (Sal Cinquemani): called it the band's most sonically restrained effort to date
• Sputnikmusic: said the songwriting, lyrics and symbolism were more profound, mature and seamless than any prior Killers album

Records

• US Billboard 200: number nine
• Topped the Top Rock Albums and Top Folk Albums charts; first album by the band to chart on the folk chart
• Seventh consecutive number-one album on the UK Albums Chart
• Finalist for the 2021 AML Award for lyrics
• No singles were released from the album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The band announced the album on social media on July 19, 2021, and it came out less than a year after Imploding the Mirage
• No singles were released, but music videos were made for "Quiet Town" and "Runaway Horses"
• "Runaway Horses" was partially inspired by Phoebe Bridgers' own 2019 cover of "Human"
• The song "Quiet Town" draws on a 1994 grade crossing accident that Flowers remembered from his eighth-grade year
• The album was a finalist for the 2021 AML Award for lyrics

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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