It took Phoenix four albums to find a market in the gap for their sunny retro-pop, and a repeat of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix's fortunes would no doubt be much appreciated. For Bankrupt the band have recruited Philippe Zdar from Cassius and Motorbass, and he's the one to credit for the delectable synth crunch and melodic bassy muscle that makes Entertainment such a wow. Phoenix's glamorous cosmopolitan pop benefits from his touch on tracks like SOS in Bel Air as his strokes add urgency to their louche melodies and hooks, though there are times (see The Real Thing ) when this doesn't work to plan. In ways, Bankrupt is all about supersizing Phoenix's infectious sweep of sound, yet there's a nagging sense that this is often done to disguise a lack of new ideas. Still, there are enough starry tracks here to keep Phoenix more in the black than the red.
wearephoenix.com Download: Entertainment, SOS in Bel Air