Pitchfork

Brandon Flowers thinks he's too cool for Christmas. And that fact makes this silly holiday trifle an enjoyable study in clumsy conundrums. The music is Santa's-gut huge, with obligatory sleigh bells getting run over by a veritable Mannheim Steamroller of hokey synths, big snares, and the nerd-cowboy-choirboy's "I really mean it (really)" emoting. The melody is over-the-noggin simple in that classic Christmastime way-- and it actually goes down easier than most of Sam's Town. But the lyrics-- which live in a bizarre world somewhere between sugarplum niceties and Mozzy melodrama-- are the main draw.

"The snowman is shaping up to be an 8 but not outta 10," starts Flowers. It's a roundabout way to describe a shitty looking snowman, but the line also successfully props up a festive signifier while tweaking it out of the "ugh" zone. From there we get a Rosebud narrative with angelic children turning into wage slaves for a cruel world that spits out war and violence. It's not subtle. But still, the twinkle of sadness in lines like "I wanna roll around like a kid in the snow/ I wanna relearn what I already know" comes through with the same nostalgic pangs that articulate themselves so well every December. And if the song wasn't obvious enough, it ends with a summary call and response: "I wanna wish you a merry Christmas/ Can't do that." Hardly Dickens, but not exactly Hallmark either; a happy, histrionic humbug to all.