Dragons put the fire back

IF Imagine Dragons fans were confused or even disappointed by last year’s Mercury Act 1 album, all will be forgiven with Act 2.

The companion set, out today, is a return to the band’s technicolour pop anthems, albeit with bigger themes and deeper lyrical self-analysis.

Frontman Dan Reynolds

told me: “It’s kind of the completion to the story. All of Mercury is focused on life and death, primarily death and grieving. The second act is more focused on celebration of life and accepting death as the inevitable and focusing on what is to be done with the time we have here.”

The band worked with producer Rick Rubin – the man behind classics by Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash and Jay-Z.

However, he has a reputation for working in a unique way, often seeming to do very little.

“That was not the Rick I experienced,” Dan laughed. “I had been familiar with the picture of him lying on the couch not doing a lot other than a few wise words. But he was very involved, lots of critical analysis of everything, he sat down and went over every lyric with me on every song, it was almost arduous. But it was also fantastic.

“There was a lot of self reflection and beyond the music conversations asking what I was looking to do and who I was.

“He wanted to know the ins and outs of everything. I think that’s why he’s a prized producer, because he is never trying to put his own will on to the artists, he is always trying to bring the artist what they need to say and be vulnerable to say it. He is a legend in every sense of the word.”

There are some incredible melodies and uplifting hooks on the new LP but Dan’s favourite moment is more intimate.

He added: “The final song They Don’t Know You Like I Do was difficult. I think my biggest flaw for a number of years was to be overly metaphorical for fear of people knowing what I was talking about. I think that started when I was young, growing up in a conservative home I didn’t want my Mormon mum knowing that I was dealing with a faith crisis when I was 13.

“Rick forced me to face that, you know you can still be poetic without being too metaphorical. So the song is the story that I lost one of my best friends to suicide. So the song is about him and his life, his death.”