Review: Phoenix, "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
French rockers offer catchiest tunes this side of the Seine
Jun 22, 2009
Hailing from the suburbs of Versailles (the same area that produced introspective electronic group Air and dance-trospective electronic group Daft Punk), Phoenix entered the limelight with the release of singles “If I Ever Feel Better” and “Too Young.”
Even on their debut album, United (2000), the band demonstrated strong pop sensibilities which later releases further expanded. Alphabetical (2004) spawned the hit “Everything Is Everything,” and 2006’s It’s Never Been Like That found itself near the top of Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums list in the year it was released.
It’s Never Been Like That strayed from the funkier leanings of United and Alphabetical for a more worldly and college radio-friendly rock sound. Songs like “Consolation Prizes” and “Napoleon Says” were springy, jangling, and terrifically infectious, and the album as a whole was leaps and bounds better than the band’s already-pretty-great earlier work.
It is this more rock-centric direction the band continues to take on Wolfgang, proving the success found in experimentation with form and style on It’s Never Been Like That was no fluke.
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If it didn’t contain some of the catchiest, most thoughtful music released this year, if not this decade, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix deserves accolades for its fantastic title alone. But it does contain that music. Track after track, the band surpasses It’s Never Been Like That on every level. Catchy as “Consolation Prizes” was, songs like “Lisztomania” and “1901” are somehow more so.
Elsewhere, “Fences” is a Prince-style groove, complete with falsetto vocals, that seems to synthesize the band’s earlier days and its more recent direction, it’s funky baseline propelled by a driving drumbeat.
Overall, the album exhibits a darker sound than It’s Never Been Like That, a spikier, more synthesized one, especially evident on "1901, but still just as catchy and danceable as ever.
Where It’s Never Been Like That lost a bit of steam on its back half, Wolfgang employs expert pacing to ensure the package never stales. The instrumental “Love Like a Sunset, Pt. I,“ nods to both Air and Daft Punk, its innocuously ambient introduction building to a bombastic and danceable finish, and as the song drones to a close it segues into the brief and beautiful balladry of “Love Like a Sunset, Pt. II.”
Quieter instances like these are peppered throughout Wolfgang, allowing the listener the opportunity to catch up and breath. The bridge on “Rome,” for instance, consists solely of muted minor tones, a lovely moment in the midst of higher-energy numbers “Lasso” and “Big Sun.”
It would be difficult to find a more immediately enjoyable album than Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, or one that seems so perfectly poised for placement atop year-end lists. Expect to hear a lot more about this band over the next several months, especially come December.
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