Phoenix - Alpha Zulu (2022) Hi Res

Phoenix recorded much of its seventh album at a studio within Paris' Musée des Arts Décoratifs, located in the northern wing of the Louvre, during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. To get to their space, the band had to walk through darkened hallways containing draped statues and even Napoleon's "grand, goofy" gold throne. Band member Christian Mazzalai has said he was originally worried that being surrounded by "too much beauty" might stymie writing efforts, but it had the opposite inspiration: They sketched out almost all of the songs in less than two weeks. The hush of the museum also seemed to have a funny effect, leading the band to create an energizing, feel-good record. Straight from the top, the title track unfurls cool electro disco like a call to the dancefloor. "Ooh ha!/ Singing hallelujah," an activated and frisky Thomas Mars sings. (There's also a menacing reference to their Louvre neighbor: "You're Mona Lisa immortalized/ Décapitée." The album's cover art, meanwhile, is a zoomed-in piece of Botticelli's Madonna con Bambino e otto angeli.) Delightful "Tonight," a duet with Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, sounds ready-made for a cardio workout. Koenig lends a world-beat feel to the hyper track, and his softly rounded vocal edges cushion Mars' nasal sharpness. Spacey but beachy at once, "The Only One" glitters and shimmers like a theme song for the beach course of Super Mario Kart, with Mars singing "How can I be the only one?" through some shiny and synthetic filter. "Season 2" boasts a super bouncy beat "Giddyup!" Mars cheers and dizzying keyboard. "After Midnight" is poppy and irresistible, and upbeat-but-relaxed "Artefact" could be an outtake from the band's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix album. "All Eyes on Me" is the outlier here, but majorly appealing: There's an unusual urgency powered by edgy beats, spiky synth and whoops from Mars. Closer "Identical," which first appeared on the soundtrack for the 2020 movie On the Rocks, directed by Mars' wife Sofia Coppola, samples the queer South African duo Faka and is a tribute to Philippe Zdar of Cassius, who often worked with Phoenix and died in 2019 after an accidental fall from a building. "Everything about the song is Philippe," the band has said. The track is full-to-bursting with a big, thumping heartbeat rhythm as Mars sings: "I'm losing my friend/ I'm losing my grip/ Praying all night to radio waves … Take my advice/ Make your mistakes."