Pitchfork: Phoenix: New Album and Tour

Phoenix: New Album and Tour
Unlike mythical bird, band is reborn from its own asses

Astralwerks will be releasing Phoenix's follow-up to 2000's extraordinary debut album, United, in the fall. Alphabetical will be released "sometime in September" according to their management representatives, although an exact release date has yet to be determined. Produced by Tony Hoffer (who is also working on the new Beck and Fischerspooner albums, and who has previously worked with The Thrills and Supergrass), the new album sees the band revisiting the rich vein of 1970s nostalgia and pastiche that characterized their first effort. On this new effort, Air's former backing band (Thomas Mars, Christian Mazzalai, Laurent Brancowitz and Deck d'Arcy) continue to purvey an extremely polished version of white pop/soul that you thought people just didn't, and perhaps shouldn't, make anymore.

Their stuff recalls the halcyon days of Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan and other urbane and, frankly, rather louche lounge acts of a bygone era (the photo of Phoenix in the Rock and Roll Yearbook sits insouciantly under the caption, "Most Likely to Cover 'Hey Nineteen'"). Does that do it for you? No? Well then, how about the fact that Phoenix seem entirely unaffected by anything as unseemly as the anxiety of influence, and the fact of their being French makes for some pretty interesting lyrics which, while they may not always bear extended interrogation, sound really great blaring out of my car stereo while I tear along with the windows euphorically open, because that's when I'm totally the star of the movie of my life! Wait, you want reasons why you should listen to them? Hows about the fact that they're not all retro either: Phoenix are smart and contemporary enough to adapt themselves to new styles and technologies, which explains why a song like "Run Run Run" can blend acoustic guitar and some pretty phat beats. Or, if you completely scanned over the last paragraph, just listen to the band's first album at their website listed below. That should be convincing enough

Even if you didn't catch their first album, chances are that you may know Phoenix from their appearance on the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, where United's standout track, "Too Young", got a second chance at some serious airplay. In any event, it's already clear that Alphabetical will be a strong candidate for album-of-the-year in a lot of people's estimations (especially me and my car's). Furthermore, I predict that the lead-off track, "Everything Is Everything" (the video for which is directed by Sofia's brother Roman Coppola), will undeniably be stuck in everyone's head as a reminder of the great promise of spring and summer, fulfilled or otherwise. It has been decreed by me! Tracklist:

01 Everything Is Everything
02 Run Run Run
03 I'm an Actor
04 Love for Granted
05 Victim of the Crime
06 (You Can't Blame it on) Anybody
07 Congratulations
08 If It's Not With You
09 Holdin' On Together
10 Alphabetical

Also, the boys are touring in the run-up to the album's release, as follows:

04-25 Fribourg, Switzerland - Le Fri-Son
04-26 Cologne, Germany - Prime Club
04-27 Munich, Germany - Small Elserhalle
04-28 Berlin, Germany - Columbiafritz
04-29 Hamburg, Germany - Grunspan
05-03 Lille, France - Aeronef
05-04 Paris, France - La Boule Noire
05-05 Paris, France - La Boule Noire
05-06 Sannois, France - EMB
05-07 Brussels, Belgium - Nuits Botaniques
05-08 Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Melkweg
05-11 to 05-19 Tokyo, Japan - TBA
05-24 Glasgow, Scotland - King Tut's Wah Wah Hut
05-25 Manchester, England - Hope and Grape
05-26 Bristol, England - Fleece and Firkin
05-27 Birmingham, England - Academy 2
05-29 London, England - Mean Fiddler
06-05 Nuremburg, Germany - Rock Im Park Festival
06-06 Eiffel, Germany - Rock Am Ring Festival
06-17 Hultsfred, Sweden - Hultsfred Festival
07-09 Kristiansand, Norway - Quart Festival
07-15 Dour, Belgium - Dour Festival
07-16 Germany - Melt Fest
08-20 Hasselt-Kiewit, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival