The cartoon sleeve promises the dropping of brightly coloured bombs, and oh look, Phoenix have done just that. Such is their mastery of the guitar-pop nugget, it’s a wonder that the Parisians aren’t all over the radio, but maybe they are just too stylish – or arch – for that. This time round, they pick up where It’s Never Been Like That’s Strokes-frolicking-in-a-French-meadow sound left off, and incorporate a few more of the electronic textures that they started out with on 2000’s United. And yet again, they’ve come up with a freshly squeezed summer record.
As ever, Thomas Mars’s deadpan vocals have a touch of melancholy floating just under the surface, but the hooks and pinpoint melodies come thick and fast, particularly on the opening trio of ‘Lisztomania’, ‘1901’ and ‘Fences’. The two-part ‘Love Like A Sunset’ is this album’s equivalent of INBLT’s ‘North’ – a lovely, woozy Krautrock confection – but elsewhere it’s energy, ideas and effortless cool all the way. This will soundtrack plenty of summers. Chris Jones
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DOWNLOAD: ‘1901’, ‘LISZTOMANIA’, ‘FENCES’.
FOR FANS OF: FLEETWOOD MAC, THE STROKES, PACIFIC!.
Posted on: 27th January 2010
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