The band uses electronic music (wide, fuzzy analogue-sounding synths
and samples), as a painter does underpainting: to combine with but
mainly to ground the top-level, primary elements, which are drawn from
early-era post-punk and new wave (bright guitar tones, lots of crashing
cymbals and toms to fill in). Co-produced with Philippe Zdar, one-half
of the French house duo Cassius, the collaboration works especially
well on the instrumental “Love Like a Sunset, Pt. I,” the closing track
“Armistice” and the best song, “Fences.” It brings disco and didactic
message together seamlessly. Hopefully Phoenix won’t join similar and
too quickly forgotten groups such as Gallygows, from Barcelona, or
Belgium’s Tahiti 80.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.
