The Killers have released a new song in collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers called “Runaway Horses.” The track lands on The Killers’ new album Pressure Machine. The Killers recorded the entire album during the pandemic while no one was able to tour.
“Runaway Horses” is a gentle, vulnerable and moving track. Acoustic guitars smoothly line the background of the song, and set the calm mood for a wholesome 3 minutes and 54 seconds. The song begins with a recording of a woman describing a depressing memory of a horse breaking it’s leg in the Ute Stampede, a regular rodeo event in Utah. Brandon Flowers of The Killers enters the song first with his warm, smooth vocal delivery that sits atop the soft, dancing acoustic guitar strings.
Flowers and Phoebe Bridgers combine their vocals on the chorus of the track. They repeat the lines, “Like runaway horses in a fever till the end/And every step is a silver prayer in the face of a hard wind,” a number of times throughout the song. Bridgers’ higher-pitched voice meshes with Flower’s low and smooth delivery to create a sense of fullness and warmth. Nearing the end of the song, soft strings start to crescendo and create a beautiful backdrop for Flower’s and Bridgers’ moving lyrics.
Last year, The Killers were announced to be performing at Lollapalooza Stockholm in July 2021, however the festival was canceled for this year. Recently, The Killers announced that they will be rescheduling one of their Los Angeles shows all the way to August 2022. On the other hand, Phoebe Bridgers will be performing her first ever headlining show at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on October 21, 2021.