Demonstrating the giant leap they’ve made from when they were Air’s backing band over 10 years ago, ‘Love In A Sunset’ is their most epic creation, a 7-minute swell of atmospherics that neatly divides the album in two. Produced by Philippe Zdar of Cassius, they start as they mean to go on with the effortlessly breezy ‘Listzomania’, which then segues into the irresistible adrenaline rush of ‘1901’. For their 4th album, ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’, childhood friends Thomas Mars, Laurent Brancowitz, Deck D’Arcy and Christian Mazzalai have returned to the spirit of their first album and conversely have produced their most forward-looking and adventurous album yet. Which is exactly what those masters of the Gallic pop-rock crossover, Phoenix have done.
Release one of your finest songs (‘1901’) as a free download on your website (getting more than 2 million hits in the process) and then go on to play the biggest American TV show out there (‘Saturday Night Live’). FLAC (tracks) 16 bit/ 44,1kHz | Time – 00:37:29 minutes | 224.24 MB | Genre: RockĪlphabetical is Phoenix’s second album, trailing their debut by nearly four years.Rule number one of setting the comeback trail on fire? Tear up the rulebook.
It’s much less of a mishmash than its predecessor, basing itself around the group’s soft, cunningly arranged pop that occasionally reaches beyond ’70s AM and ’80s sophisti-pop to slip in discreet traces of hip-hop.
During their time away, Phoenix became much more proficient as synthesists certain moments on 2000’s United seemed to signal, “Here’s where we declare our love of country music,” or “Here’s the song where we try to sound exactly like Todd Rundgren.” This issue has been fixed the seams that bind their inspirations are now less visible. They’re also much better songwriters now, but the lack of variation - in tempo and in sound - nearly wipes out the positives by leaving the album with a sluggishness. It’s particularly troublesome if you’re not in a very specific mood (not simply laid-back, but a kind of laid-back) and want to stay there for the duration of the listen. The album would’ve benefited from a song or two with the vigor of United’s “Too Young” and “If I Ever Feel Better” to break up the monotony and tracks three through 11 are nowhere near the high level of tracks one and two, making the album drag all the more as it plays out. Phoenix – If It’s Not With You – 3:57 (782 kbps, 22.14 MB).Phoenix – Congratulations – 1:13 (936 kbps, 8.1 MB).Phoenix – (You Can’t Blame It On) Anybody – 3:34 (995 kbps, 25.35 MB).Phoenix – Victim Of The Crime – 4:02 (977 kbps, 28.19 MB).Phoenix – Everything Is Everything – 3:00 (1020 kbps, 21.89 MB).If not a qualified across-the-board improvement, Alphabetical is at least a good record by a group with plenty of unrealized potential.
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