Album Review by EDF
Phoenix is a French four piece. You would be forgiven for thinking that they are American. Their sound is very much bordering on the West Coast (of America not France) with slight hints of Lindsey Buckingham.
The first track, SCHOOL’S RULES, is an instrumental which could have been something a 70’s heavy rock group would have released ages ago. ON FIRE sounds like something I heard before, but I just cannot figure out what. FUNKY SQUARE DANCE is not as funky as you are led to believe when it starts. It’s country-lite with the vocalist adopting that strange vocal effect that Cher created/robbed from certain 70’s artists (delete as appropriate). But wait, all of a sudden the track takes a weird twist half way through and turns into an instrumental synth-funk workout dating back to the 1980’s. Strange indeed.
EMBUSCADE is an easy listening instrumental that’s pleasant enough while SUMMERDAYS describes how d’Arcy’s summer has been so far. The best track on this album is the disco/funk sounding IF I EVER FEEL BETTER.
While there is a bit of musically variety here, It would be nice if they got a bit of recognition just to see what they would come up with next.
