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
Phoenix: Bankrupt
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