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56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant synth-rock Europop - Phoenix's best yet, May 15, 2009
Phoenix are one of the greatest bands to come out of France in the last 15 years (along with Daft Punk and Air, two of my great musical loves, and several other bands that formed around the same time), and they are finally receiving some well-deserved attention. Phoenix just keep getting better, and they know it -- they love it, they exploit it, they bathe in its glory. Seriously, who else would have the "couilles" to title their fourth album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix? But it's justified. This album is pure shining genius from a band with a unique and creative sound, a gift that the American public is starved for in these vapid, manufactured Disney-pop times. I've been hooked on Phoenix since the moment I saw their "If I Ever Feel Better" video in 2001 while living in Paris. Over the past decade, Phoenix have continually reinvented their sound -- with undeniable cohesion and hat-tips to previous albums -- and WAP, their pièce de résistance, is no exception.
It helps in assessing the roots of WAP, their fourth album, to look back across Phoenix's discography. United (2000) was a bizarre yet pleasing amalgamation of insanely catchy pop gems, dark bluesy instrumentals, hollering garage rock, and smooth downtempo. (Interestingly, their "Too Young" single, from United, was featured in the night-on-the-town apartment scene in Lost in Translation; this was America's first real taste of Phoenix.) By contrast, their second album, Alphabetical (2004), had a far more cohesive sound: its synth-y, finger-tapping indie pop made for a crisp, solid album. Listening to Alphabetical, you likely thought, "Wow, Phoenix have really come into their own since United!" Then in 2006, on It's Never Been Like That, Phoenix came hurtling back to their garage rock ethos, and the faithful listener was surprised once again. INBLT was rougher, edgier, less synth-y, more raw sounding than Alphabetical. (It probably helped enhance INBLT's "garage rock" sound that Phoenix produced it at Planet Roc Studios in Berlin, a Cold War-era radio station/recording studio. When you listen to Phoenix's albums in succession, you can hear this distinct difference.)
So here we are with their fourth album, a gleaming culmination of all their previous efforts. WAP has deep, undeniable rock roots yet equally incorporates luscious synth and keyboard, thanks to the skillful Philippe Zdar (of Cassius fame), who produced WAP as well as United. You can particularly hear Zdar's influence on the nearly-danceable tracks "1901" and "Girlfriend," which are also the first two radio releases. The guitars are piquing, the keyboards lush and full, the drum kits ablaze; this continues for the album's entirety. The lyrics are -- in Phoenix's trademark way -- nonsensical at times, yet interspersed with luminous moments of double entendre. For those looking for thematic cohesion, you won't be disappointed: WAP contains some obvious historical references, including "Lisztomania," "Rome," and "Armistice," not to mention the name of the album itself.
My top favorites on this seriously head-bobbing album include "1901," "Lasso," and "Girlfriend." In actuality, though, I could list every song as a highlight, as there's not a bad one among them. Most listeners will also enjoy "Lisztomania" for its sheer catchiness; "Fences" for its falsetto harmonies and lyrical allegory; "Love Like a Sunset" (an extended version of the single "Twenty-One One Zero") for its soul-searching instrumental depths; and "Rome" for its sonic lookback at "Sometimes in the Fall" (from INBLT, 2006). Listening to WAP will make you feel good: most tracks are seriously upbeat. And, if you're anything like me, you'll feel fortunate that there are still bands out there capable of producing such masterworks.
I think all Phoenix fans will enjoy this amazing album, by far their best to date. If you most enjoyed Alphabetical, you'll love WAP's crisp, return-to-synth beats. By contrast, if you preferred the rougher sound of INBLT, you'll appreciate WAP's rock richness. Very highly recommended, even for fans new to Phoenix. (Most people would tell new fans to start at the beginning of their anthology, but I think it would be fine to start with WAP and go backwards if you wanted.) Absolutely brilliant work, this album.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Infectious, charming and accomplished., May 31, 2009
"Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" is the fourth album from French indie-rockers Phoenix.
Phoenix are really rather brilliant, it's just a shame more people don't know it. Criminally underrated for most of their career, the French quartet return with this fourth effort, which, cringey title aside, is by far their most accomplished and infectious album to date.
Nine years on from their debut, it's certainly not as if Phoenix have radically altered their musical approach.
Speaking about the record, which the band describe as "fast and intense", the group suggested it captured the spirit of their 2000 debut 'United' with a more guitar-led sound.
From the brisk, jaunty, adorable opener "Lisztomania" onwards this is an album that respects its listener, shunning sonic stunts and attention-seeking in favour of deft, accomplished musicianship and the kind of playful, kittenish charm that sneaks up on you slowly but surely.
It delivers no surprises. It's yet another Phoenix album stuffed full of alternative pop tunes that tread that precarious line between likeable and intelligent so deftly that you have to wonder if they're channelling some sort of mysterious energy from another dimension where everybody is cool and French and hangs out with 'Daft Punk'. And if that's starting to get old, they really don't seem to care.
"This is music that will appeal to anyone looking for a 21st-century Supertramp or Hall & Oates, and the first three tracks on album number four, in particular, are as good as anything they've ever done.
You'd still never know they were French, a fact which - 'Air' aside - is probably a good thing in pop terms".-Simmy Richman
Uplifting and inspiring, this is half disco-rock, half indie-pop - two sides which come together forcefully to make more than the sum of their parts.
"1901" is about 130 years ahead of its title, an infectious, rip-roaring march through time, while the two disparate parts of "Love Is Like A Sunset" encapsulate both the brooding, infectious electronic side of the band and the more lovelorn, serious aspect.
Uncompromising yet accessible, serious yet booty-shakingly fun, Phoenix have struck musical gold with this album. Mozart would be proud. Probably.
This beguiling record is highly recommended.
United
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 9/10, June 5, 2009
Phoenix has been chugging along dutifully for years ever since their taste-making role in Lost in Translation's soundtrack, but fame has continued to elude the French foursome. Lost in Translation wasn't Garden State, and Phoenix certainly isn't the Shins, but despite Phoenix's ability to churn out irresistibly catchy pop singles, those same singles have never managed to translate into pop success. Maybe something was lost in translation over the Atlantic (sorry, I had to), but Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, their 4th major label effort, offers more than enough quirky synth-rock to finally give the band a hit on American shores.
The one-two punch of first single "Lisztomania" and "1901" that opens the record is the kind of combo that could prevent the rest of the album from being heard. Both are bouncy slices of indie rock guaranteed to get feet tapping: "Lisztomania" rides a jittery beat and vocalist Thomas Mars' oscillating vocals to a chorus perfectly memorable and perfectly simple, while "1901" mixes buzzing synths with a jangly chorus and a Mars' echoing refrain of "fallin'" that begs to be sung along to.
Previous listeners of Phoenix will find little difference initially between Wolfgang and their 2006 work, It's Never Been Like That. While most of Wolfgang retains Phoenix's relentless energy and effervescent melodies, the album as a whole feels more fleshed out, more organic sounding than INBLT, which at times sounded mechanical and clashing. "Fences" switches between a down-tempo disco groove and Mars' falsetto verses to a keyboard-heavy chorus with yet another on-the-money chorus, while on a song like "Lasso," Mars sounds more focused and natural than ever before, his habit of over-enunciating lessened and his versatile range exploited nicely. Speaking of "Lasso," not only does it have one of the best choruses on the record, the drums at the beginning always remind me of "Down With The Sickness." Very odd.
Perhaps most importantly, Wolfgang comes off as a very vibrant, modern-sounding record. Songs like the "Love Like A Sunset" duo and "Big Sun" sound like the stereophonic equivalent of a rainbow, full-bodied compositions that embrace a Wall-of-Sound production style but maintain Phoenix's dedication to keeping it relatively danceable, resulting in something fresh in the group's rather tired oeuvre. "Love Like A Sunset," in particular, is about as experimental as Phoenix are likely to get, the first part coming off as what a band like Explosions in the Sky might sound like with a more defined sense of rhythm and an interest in `80s pop while the second resolves all the tension in a potent wave of major-key harmonies.
"Rome" follows in much the same vein as "Love Like A Sunset," matching a sparkling layer of sound and the album's best lyrics together into Wolfgang's most fully realized tune. The metaphor of Rome's downfall with the end of a relationship paired with the shimmering cascade of guitar make the song an obvious highlight.
The only nagging problem with the record, and it's one with Phoenix's discography in general, is the lyrical content, which is more often than not nonsensical and incomprehensible. "Lisztomania" opens up with Mars yelping "so sentimental / not sentimental no! / romantic not disgusting yet / darling I'm down and lonely," while the chorus cryptically continues "think less but see it grow . . . I'm not easily offended / it's not hard to let it go / from a mess to the masses." English not being their first language, though, it's hard not to forgive the band and instead admire Mars' frequently clever vocal stylings.
After the epic productions of "Rome" and "Big Sun," the closing songs almost seem to pale in comparison. "Girlfriend" is an acceptable pop/rock ditty that, on its own, would be a well above-average song on any band's record, but at the tail end of this one, brings nothing new to the table. Closer "Armistice" boasts some nifty drum work and another excellent chorus breakdown, but its abrupt ending and overall sameness seems like an ill-fitting conclusion to such a stunning album.
And stunning it is. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is surely the high point of this band's decade-long career, a finely-crafted, tightly-performed collection of concise, vivid dance-rock that rarely misses a beat and shows Phoenix willing to grow beyond the structural boundaries they seemed to impose on themselves with It's Never Been Like That. Who says France never gave us anything good?
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