The Killers Give A “Shot At The Night”, Targeting Fans With “Direct Hits”

This time last year, the Las Vegas rock band The Killers released their fourth studio album entitled Battle Born. The album received much acclaim from critics and fans, and was voted by readers as the second best album of 2012 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s year-end countdown. Today The Killers mark their return with a brand new single for their upcoming greatest hits compilation coming this November called Direct Hits.

Image Credit: The Killers/Island Def Jam Music Group

Direct Hits will release in the US and Canada on November 12, marking the band’s 10th anniversary from the release of their debut album Hot Fuss in 2003. The greatest hits compilation will feature 15 songs from their last four LP records over the past ten years and feature two brand new tunes—Just Another Girl, which will see the band reunite with longtime collaborator Stuart Price who worked with them last on Battle Born; and Shot At The Night, which is produced by French electronic band M83’s Anthony Gonzalez. The single, which is already making waves with fans is now available on iTunes.

The melody of Shot At The Night is gentle with 80’s-esque synths and keys, highly reminiscent of music from the late decade bordering Talking Heads and possibly paying homage to the popular new wave and avant-garde band of the late 70s with their hit, Once in A Lifetime. The Killers move the listener in their new single to moments of cool summer nights with bouncing bass pumps in a rocking anthem. In some form, it sounds almost like a cross between Smile Like You Mean It and Miss Atomic Bomb with Brandon Flowers’ Only The Young off his solo record in 2010.

Front-man, Brandon Flowers mentioned in an NME interview how a greatest hits album was underway since the start of the new year and going on to say, “This record feels like a great way to clean everything up and move onto the next thing.”

Direct Hits will feature all the band’s major singles such as Mr. Brightside, Smile Like You Mean It, When You Were Young, Fairytale Dustland, and Runaways, just to name a few. There will be three available editions to purchase come November, one being the standard edition composed of 15 tracks; the deluxe edition with 18 tracks, three of which are remixes; and the super deluxe box set which has been officially confirmed in the UK at the moment and includes the deluxe CD, a DVD featuring a documentary on the band and a collection of 5 10″ vinyl records.

The single comes off much speculation and anticipation from fans deciphering a number of online hints and cryptic clues the band left on social media over the past few weeks. One such clue being the morse code image on Twitter spelling out “Shot at The Night”.

Shot At The Night released Monday for fans to hear on their official YouTube-VEVO channel, care of Island Def Jam Music Group. Check out The Killers official website for all the latest on Direct Hits and take a shot on the target featured at the site to hear some hits from over the past ten years. The single is now available on iTunes.

What do you think of The Killers’ newest single? Shoot us your thoughts in the comments below.

Connect with Tania Hussain on Twitter and Google+!