Artist:Phoenix
Album: Bankrupt!
Release Date:April 22
Label:Glassnote
Grade:C
After four years of waiting patiently, indie rock fans can finally enjoy Phoenix's newest album release, Bankrupt!
Phoenix rose to power after its incredibly successful album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which poured through international radio airwaves in 2009. Songs like "Lisztomania" and "1901" were on repeat and brought the band into the spotlight. "1901" spent 31 weeks on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, eventually bouncing its way up to the coveted No. 1 spot.
The Parisian quartet spent two years in both New York and Paris meticulously recording the album after ending their tour in 2010. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix set an impressively high bar for the band to reach on its next album, and after waiting several years for it, fans may have to set their expectations a little lower next time.
The song "Entertainment" has been making its way around the world, preparing fans for an undoubtedly fantastic album. It has an exciting pre-chorus build up and foot-tapping drumbeat, but it may sound a little too familiar. Admittedly, the album is the same musical formula as Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix from start to finish, but with a different song title for each track.
Songs like "S.O.S. in Bel Air" and "Drakkar Noir" are so similar in style and design that it's difficult to tell them apart. Mid-tempo speed, playful lyrics and crazy drumming may make great songs when standing alone, but put the Bankrupt! on shuffle and you'll be listening to one song, maybe two.
Few songs stand out among the heap of predictable songwriting and vision. "Chloroform" slows it down a bit to create a trance-like world of colorful sound. The groovy keyboard on the song may make the track a standout for fans.
Lead vocalist Thomas Mars has obviously been having more fun with songwriting, and fans will appreciate that with this album. The song "Oblique City" pokes fun at commercialization of products and brands.
"I wanted out of the Biblical bets/Oblique city credentials/It's everything that I've ever known/Coca-Colas, Rosetta Stone," Mars sings.
It's too much of the same, however. Newer fans to Phoenix may enjoy the synth-heavy, indie pop rock that's becoming so popular, but those who have stuck with the band since before 2009 are in for the same musical template Phoenix seems to be comfortable with.
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