4.03.2009

The Killers :: "Four Winds" [Bright Eyes Cover]

The big news this week is The Killers are releasing an EP with the "Spaceman" single release. And the big song off that EP is going to be "Four Winds," a distopian Bright Eyes song run through The Killers' synthed-out, arena hurricane. Are those church bells in the background? Sure, absolutely. Does it sound a little like When In Rome or Erasure? Sure, absolutely. But neither of those bands had the epic sensibility of Flowers. Outside of New Order, you really have to wonder if there was a single synth-band in the 1980s that had the 50,000-seat sound that The Killers wake up and spit most mornings. Inflammatory remarks? Check.

So, explain how Oberst's insane, verbose, and frankly concerning lyrics morph so easily into the hands of a band that could play the Super Bowl. Explain how the phrases: "there's bodies decomposing in containers tonight" and "where a genocide sleeps" roll off the tongue like invitations and encouragement. This is a song about the intimacies of the apocalypse. And all it makes you do is pump your fist in the air and sail through a Friday. Something about Oberst's introspection makes this level of forthrightness, the synths, the thudding bass-line, seem appropriate. The world is going to end and we're supposed to keep quiet? What good is that secret unless you tell everyone? And what good is the end of the world if you can't enjoy it?

Listen :: The Killers - "Four Winds" (Bright Eyes Cover)

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