21st Century Breakdown listens something like a name that tune gone awry as Green Day mine their own catalog along with the catalogs of practically every notable classic rock band from the late seventies to create something so wholly unoriginal, it’s embarrassing. Practically every song has a part that can be traced to either an earlier Green Day song or a song by an artist Green Day has admitted to idolizing.
...the more time you spend with Fever Ray, the more you become convinced that these songs aren't written so much as they're temporarily let out. They're too starved, too eerie, and too transfigured to have been [sent alone into the world]
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..."The Big Sleep" consists of a swoonsome duet between Khan and a suitably broody Scott Walker. Accompanied by nothing more than a stormy piano coda, the pair dip and dive around each other, stringing out syllables, dancing around each others' voices and generally soaking in the drama. Not only does Khan hold her own, there are moments when she holds his, too. That she's capable of doing so is evidence enough that we should be paying attention
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-- the way she breathlessly pants "crying, crying, crying" on "Zero", or giddily draws out the last syllable of the line "a hundred years old" on "Dull Life", or how "Heads Will Roll" and "Dragon Queen" periodically dissipate into an inchoate softness
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The Killers have essentially crafted an enjoyable but fairly throwaway pop record
...rarely make public appearances and only recently revoked their steadfast refusal to play live, performing behind a screen, in the dark, wearing masks
...a penchant for synthetically manipulating her vocals in a way that might be the flipside of R&B and pop's current obsession with chroming the human voice via Auto-Tune: instead of achieving a perfect metallic sheen, she uses technology to make herself sound older, huskier, wearier.
