Phoenix alone in the museum: For the recording of their seventh album, the band booked a room in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, located in a wing of the Louvre – a deserted place at the time, as the lockdowns ensured closed doors. The flirt with high culture is part of Phoenix’s business model, the French called their bestseller record WOLFGANG AMADEUS PHOENIX and a song “Liztomania”. Then again, the last two records bore the Billo titles BANKRUPT! and TI AMO – let’s call it dialectics.
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Don’t mistake Phoenix for pranksters, though, especially on this album, the first following the death of their close friend and producer Philippe Zdar. Mournful melodies and thoughts have always been part of the Phoenix DNA, they stand in the tradition of French pop, in which joie de vivre and great sadness are moods that communicate with each other. On ALPHA ZULU, for example, there is a hint of melancholy on “The Only One”, which is reminiscent of the bubbling hits of the Pet Shop Boys.
The final track “Identical” gallops but offers a sad melody, before that “Winter Solstice” is the pinnacle of Phoenix’s melancholy, a cry for help for more light and stories with happy endings. There are also fast, clever pop moments somewhere between modern and eighties. The unique selling point of this album in this band’s catalogue, however, is the dedicated thoughtfulness that was able to unfold particularly well behind the walls of an abandoned museum.
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