Matthew Wilder once famously sang that nothing was going to break his stride and nobody was going to slow him down, but for all the the pandemic now feels largely in the rear view mirror, the emotional, creative and psychological impact of it on many artists is still apparent in their work.
For French quartet Phoenix it meant relocating from their studio complex to a wing of the Louvre, but whilst there are marignal shadows on Alpha Zulu that point to unsettlement, by and large the band’s surfaces remain as smooth as ever. It’s been almost fifteen years since Thomas Mars and co. nailed grown up pop on the soft centered Wolfgang Amadeus, and whilst the presence of Ezra Koening on Tonight is a memento of the era when they and Vampire Weekend slugged it out across the Atlantic for most popular, it’s a highlight which has little competition.
These other flashes of art gallery inspiration are via the titular opener and The Only One, but dedicated unnoffically to the tragically lost producer Phillippe Zdar, Alpha Zulu is defined by it’s glossy air of sophistication and not much else. On this evidence Phoenix’s stride was hardly broken, which may not necessarily have been a good thing.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 