CROSSFIRE

Brandon Flowers

So here's what I've learned from the video. If you're captured by ninjas, you do NOT want to be rescued by Charlize Theron. She punches them in the face, bungs shurikens into their heads and even takes a few out with the aid of a sword (like you do), but then after all that she doesn't bother rescuing him. She simply stands there and stares at him for a bit, and the next scene starts with Mr Flowers in another potentially fatal predicament. Poor bloke's like a male version of Penelope Pitstop, which makes Charlize Theron... the Anthill Mob. Never thought I'd ever make that comparison. Anyway, finally, at the THIRD attempt she gets him out of trouble, not that either of them look too chuffed about it. Honestly, there's no pleasing some people. So what exactly is it that stops her from rescuing him? Perhaps she can hear the song, in which case all is forgiven. It's dull, uninspired and it saps your energy, so it's little wonder she had to go back and reconsider her options twice before she finally decided to rescue him. You see, if Brandon Flowers had done a better song he'd have been back with his family and friends even before the second verse had started, so really it's his own fault.

CHOICES

Hoosiers

I really like this song.

Brrr, that feels wrong, saying that. I mean, this is a Hoosiers song we're talking about here. They did Worried About Ray and Goodbye Mr A and those songs were excessively jolly, laugh-a-minute TRIPE. On the other hand, this is a complete turnaround in quality, a bit like when Keane released Spiralling, only hopefully this time it won't be a temporary blip. Instead of a "wacky" and "fun" song that desperately screams "We're a bunch of mad characters, we are," they've come back with (and say this quietly) a Proper Pop Song. I may be predisposed to electronic music as opposed to guitars, but that's not what makes this better in my view. The song itself is more grown-up too, and that's the important thing. If this is anything to go by, the Hoosiers aren't catering for the school disco market anymore and thank Heavens for that. It's going to take a while to get used to living in a world where the Hoosiers make decent songs, mind you.