The second of
the Killers to take a working holiday,
Ronnie Vannucci Jr. can't be accused of bandwagon jumping or even borrowing too much from his day job with
Big Talk's self-titled debut.
Vannucci isn't as much of a force behind the microphone as
Brandon Flowers is -- though his tenor is perfectly respectable -- but he doesn't need to be. Instead, he concentrates on songcraft, filling
Big Talk with tunes that brim with proper bridges, breakdowns, and turnarounds. In this regard, the album feels like a real throwback; these tracks aren't trying to be cool or edgy, and
Big Talk feels surprisingly personal because of that. Some of
the Killers' pop glitz can be heard here and there, particularly on the glossy "Replica," which could be the theme song from Mannequin 3, but there are no
Springsteen-meets-
Duran Duran flights of fancy here. While the feel is distinctly '80s,
Big Talk revel in straight-ahead power pop that harks back to
the Cars, Steve Miller,
Rick Springfield, and
Dwight Twilley, particularly on "A Fine Time to Need Me," "Katzenjammer," and "White Dove." Elsewhere, "Living in Pictures" hints at what
Joe Jackson would sound like if he were a Yank, and "Girl at Sunrise" borrows some of the rollicking bounce of
Bruce's "I'm Goin' Down." These comparisons aren't to suggest that
Big Talk are especially derivative; it's just that this kind of quirk-free yet catchy sound doesn't have many contemporary practitioners (think a less goofy
Weezer or a regular Joe version of
the Strokes). This more straightforward approach means that there's less eye-rolling excess than on
the Killers' albums, but at times it feels like
Big Talk could do with a little more strangeness. Then again, the number of artists making this kind of music in the 2010s is so small that the very lack of strangeness makes it stand out.
Big Talk may not have rock star sparkle, but it walks the walk when it comes to solidly entertaining songs. ~ Heather Phares