Now that I'm back from my unannounced, week long hiatus, I'm ready to post the Phoenix review! So, apologies all around, but my week was filled with plans and utter chaos. With that said, on with the review!
For those of you who have never heard of the band Phoenix, let me start by saying this: in general, Phoenix is an indie band that goes for that very stereotypical, half-way between Death Cab For Cutie and The Strokes sound, that those of us who love indie music hear so damn much. However, the thing that separates Phoenix from the rest of these bands is that Phoenix does it right.
Being a group that began as backing instrumentals for the French indie band, Air, and being partly responsible for the formation of Daft Punk, you shouldn’t be surprised to see aspects of both of these groups in all of Phoenix’s music. Using these bands as a reference, it could be said that Phoenix is comprised of the electronic intensity of Air backed by the seamlessly simple and mesmerizing musical integrations of Daft Punk. The simplicity is also reflected in their album composition. Phoenix always makes it their goal to deliver an album that, as a whole, is aesthetically pleasing. The album doesn’t need to make the concept of delivering a deep message its primary goal, but it does need to be comprised in a way that will pull the listener further into what is being presented. Now, I’m not trying to say that Phoenix doesn’t have any profound, underlying messages in their music, because that would be ludicrous; it’s just that Phoenix takes more of a musical path to delivering their messages as opposed to the more common poetic path.
The reason I emphasize this aspect of the group is because the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix does an amazing job defining this concept. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is arguably as musically artistic as many legendary indie albums such as, Arcade Fire’s Funeral, or The Pixies’ Doolittle and does more than catch the eye of the artistic soul; this album effectively pulls in even the non-analytical listener. The first two tracks, “Lisztomania” and “1901” are so luring with their faint electronic backgrounds and pseudo-dance beat drive, it does nothing but have the listener wanting more. As the album progresses, the instrumental involvement is in and out like a musical roller coaster ride. This gives the album well spaced variety and a transforming, diverse sound. Songs like “Love Like a Sunset (Part I and II)” and “Big Sun” do a great job at making these stylistic transitions happen smoothly.
Once the musical work-up pulls your heart into the album, that’s when your mind starts to listen closer. The entire album has a classical theme (interpretable by the title) and contains a deep, historic-style inner conflict that will keep you analyzing the poetic vocals. I won’t go into the actual poetic conflicts of the album, as to leave the interpretation up to you, but let me tell you, no matter how you look at it, it’s deep. And hell, if analyzing lyrics isn’t your thing, we already talked about how the album is as pleasing as ever for those types of listeners.
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is an album that excels in all musical categories. This great achievement, however, is also its greatest criticism. It seems that to make a truly iconic album, one needs to push all efforts into one aspect, whether it be the instrumentals, the poetics, or the all around evolution of the music...but I say fuck it! Phoenix has made an excellent album that is a masterpiece to the masses. So give it a listen, I guarantee you will love it one way or another!
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