There was a certain ambivalence for me as I went to pick up Phoenix’s newest album,
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. These poppy indie-rockers had hovered in and out of my radar for the past couple of years but I never took full notice of the band. So after stumbling across this album I became oddly intrigued. One look at the album cover and a quick few listens of a few sample tracks and I was skeptical. Hipster indie garbage that was tailor-made for the blogging hype train, was my first impression. Still, something nagged at me as I attempted to dismiss the album. There was a certain vibrance to the music, that seemed to hint at something better then my first impression surmised. With some hesitance I acquired the album and gave it a few spins. The age old adage of trusting your gut feeling remains firmly intact as this is a pretty great album. While never blazing any trails or attempting to blow your mind, Phoenix craft a number of catchy tunes and a couple of hum-dingers for good measure.
Immediate comparisons to other groups like MGMT seem all too likely. With the buzzing synths and steady drumbeats, “1901" would fit well alongside “Electric Feel”. What separates Phoenix is the greater use of organic instruments, like the acoustic guitar that propels the verses into an instantly memorable chorus on “Fences”. Similarly, album opener “Lisztomania” hops along with a bouncy guitar line. Still, the driving force behind much of the music is the keyboards, drums and bass. Never is this more evident then on the five-and-a-half minute krautrock intro that makes up the epic centerpiece “Love Like a Sunset Pt. 1 and 2" which steadily builds until a strumming ballad slows the song to an end. It’s a unique song in context from the rest of the record, setting it out as a highlight. Unfortunately, this sense of experimentation would have felt welcome towards the end of the album.
Almost inevitably, the main problem with this album is that it starts to wear out its welcome towards end. While the pulsating beat of “Rome” makes it a contender for song of the album (and one of my favourites from this year to be totally honest) it doesn’t necessarily save some of the other tunes. “Big Sun” seems like a lesser version of “Rome” and seeing as it’s placed immediately after it, this creates a bit of tediousness. In fact, a lot of the songs on the album have a similar feel to them and this catches up to you towards the end of the album. There’s nothing particularly wrong with “Girlfriend”, but the mildly whiny vocals, stuttering bass and fluttering drumbeat do nothing to distinguish it from the rest of the album. Even closer “Armistice”, a chance to end the album a big, or mellow note, feels as if it’s just more of the same, minus the nifty use of harpsichord, of course.
A little more variety, like the slow burn of “Love Like a Sunset Pt. 1" and
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix Might have been something even greater then it is. Stripping all that away though, and Phoenix have still managed to create a solid record. Their sound is defined and is intended to simply make catchy music. In this sense, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix hits a home-run, or a ground roll double... ah who cares about baseball anyways. While the latter half may become tedious, the first half is chock full of likeable tunes. Sure, I could mention some sort of concept about pianists Liszt and Mozart, but who cares? It’s summer, and Phoenix make pretty good summer music. Now, hopefully good looking indie girls will want to dance with me to some Phoenix.
