Brandon Flowers has debuted new solo song ‘Diamonds On Black Velvet’ – which was previously written for The Killers‘ ‘Pressure Machine‘.
The singer broke out the currently-unreleased track while performing at the O2 Apollo in Manchester as part of his solo tour, celebrating the release of his latest solo album ‘Thrasher’.
That record sees the Killers frontman lean into a country music sound and provide a rare insight into his upbringing in Utah. Following an epic show at London’s Royal Albert Hall earlier this month, the tour has already seen Flowers break out a cover of The Coral‘s classic ‘Dreaming Of You’ in Bristol, and debut brand new track ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’.
Now, he has used his gig in Manchester to preview another unreleased song called ‘Diamonds On Black Velvet’ – an epic, lovelorn song that has nods to artists like Roy Orbison.
“Diamonds on black velvet, floating in her eyes/ Falling from her fingers, every moment lingers/ luminescent sky,” he sings in the tender opening verse, before being joined by backing vocalists for the grand chorus.
“Lay me on the altar, baby I’m a thorn, pull me by a string,” he belts. “Are you coming with me?/ Are we going to shoot through the windows and tear along the night?/ I don’t need to think twice/ she’s all that I wanted and more.”
While the song is currently unreleased, some fans are already familiar with its existence, as Flowers previously spoke about it and said that it was written around the same time that The Killers were working on 2021 album ‘Pressure Machine’.
Both Flowers and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. shared their appreciation for the song during an interview with Amazon Music six years ago, and the singer later shared on Instagram live that the song never made it onto that record because it felt “too romantic” to fit in with the other songs.
While it isn’t confirmed when the song will be released, it does seem likely that both ‘Diamonds On Black Velvet’ and ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’ will feature on another solo album from Flowers – particularly as he told NME in August that ‘Thrasher’ would be the first of two connected solo albums, with a more “romantic” follow-up already completed and on the way.
“It’s maybe not as country but maybe country-leaning; in the same way that Tom Petty is country adjacent, or The Travelling Wilburys,” Flowers said about the upcoming sister record.
‘Thrasher’ marked the first solo album from the rock icon in over a decade, following on from 2015’s sophomore record ‘The Desired Effect’. In a four-star review’, NME praised Flowers as “a much better storyteller than he gets credit for”, adding: “With country music, there’s nowhere to hide, now Flowers is out of his cage and doing just fine.”
Flowers’ ongoing tour continues with shows in Glasgow and Birmingham this weekend, before wrapping up in Dublin on Tuesday (October 27).
