Phoenix rises from French house’s ashes

Phoenix rises from French house’s ashes

8 August, 2009 | 2.52AM

• Written by: Jack Spontan
• Filed under: Music News: kitsune, phoenix

Music is all about ownership. Everyone gets a kick from discovering a certain tune, band or DJ first – unearthing that gem they’re going to bring up a few years later in a fit of cavalier bragging. You know the type: “I got that Prodigy track when it was still on white label, mate!”, or “I saw Greg Wilson at the Hacienda when you were still in nappies, son!”

Yes, in the world of music, it seems perfectly acceptable to appropriate other people’s work in order to make yourself seem cooler.

In that very unashamed way, I ‘owned’ Phoenix for a while. Back in 2000 whilst channel-hopping I happened to land on MTV2 and came across this swaggering French hipster band crooning over dulcet disco beats. I dropped the remote immediately and gave a double-clap of approval. I was 15-years-old at the time.

Off I strolled to my local record store and picked up a copy of their debut album, ‘United’, still hot off the press. I was convinced it was the best 45 minutes ever committed to minidisc (or whichever now-obsolete format was popular back then).

The future anecdotal value of my discovery then sky-rocketed when I discovered that one of the band had been in a group with Messrs Bangalter and Homen-Christo, back when they were still making music described by the press as a bunch of ‘daft punk’, and that they’d performed as Air’s backing band on the seminal ‘Moon Safari’. Move over, Dad, with your bygone stories of rock ‘n’ roll family trees – this one’s all mine.

So, you can imagine my delight when, almost a decade later, I am invited to interview Phoenix - now with four albums under their belt, and an ever-growing audience - face-to-face for Beatportal. 

Having just released the widely praised, ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’, the band’s happy-go-lucky brand of pop perfection seems to have reached a fruitful nadir. And with a selection of high-calibre remixes of the catchy single ‘Lisztomania’ commissioned by chic French electro label, Kitsune, Phoenix’ crossover appeal has never been greater.

Indeed, their album was even produced by Philippe Zdar – one half of classic French house duo Cassius.

“When we were working with Philippe the word he would use most often was ‘modernity’… he insisted on ‘it’ being present in every aspect of the recording process. That is why this album is perhaps more successful than our previous releases – because it is our most futuristic,” muses lead singer Thomas Mars, before blowing a bubble with his gum that goes, rather appropriately POP.

Mars and Phoenix’ bassist Deck D’Arcy are about to perform an outdoor concert at a sun-drenched lake just outside Berlin. While both are courteous and engaged, their responses often come across rather opaquely, which in fact seems less baffling and more in-keeping with their Gallic vibe. Bof.

When we produce our music, especially the beats, we often go about it more like a house record than a rock track. We don’t really know how to do it any other way

“We have never really considered ourselves to be an electronic band like that,” adds Deck. “But it’s all part of our DNA, you know? We grew up with that.”

They certainly did. They formed school bands with Daft Punk, jammed alongside Air, and hung out with Cassius.

“When we produce our music, especially the beats, we often go about it more like a house record than a rock track. We don’t really know how to do it any other way,” says Deck.

‘United’ and 2004’s follow-up ‘Alphabetical’ saw electronic grooves fused with folky melodies, a sound that could be Steely Dan getting down on analogue synths and drum machines.

In 2006, with their third album ‘It’s Never Been Like That’, however, Phoenix moved in a different direction, leaving behind the slick production techniques for a raw, and more indie sound.

“When we listen to our first releases now it is almost like looking at an old photo album,” muses Mars, somewhat philosophically “Like, when you look back at pictures of yourself when you were younger and realise how much you’ve changed. Neither in a bad way nor in a necessarily good way...you’re simply different now.”

“You know, when we look back at ‘United’ for example - our ‘crazy’ album - and we hear sleazy sax solos and vocoder driven country ‘n’ western tracks, we ask ourselves how we had the audacity to pull it off. 

“We know it’s something we would never go back to now, but we’re still really proud of it. We see it in a completely different light to how we did before which helps us develop and improve.”

Opinion in the press would certainly seem to agree. With frustratingly indifferent reviews garnered for the first two albums, Phoenix finally seemed to find their critical niche with an altogether more simplistic approach to making music. Cries of ‘joie de vivre’ and ‘je ne sais quoi’ were lauded on ‘It’s Never Been Like That’, and seemingly the more the band distanced themselves from the electronic sound of their contemporary compatriots, the more ‘oh la la’ they inspired.

‘Wolfgang…’ builds on their previous effort’s successes, but why after almost ten years and four major label-backed albums, are people are finally waking up to Phoenix?

“It’s really hard to say, because when we do an album we try to approach things sideways and challenge ourselves. We don’t like to go where people are waiting for us. We never know which way to bet,” says Deck.

“Every record has sounded so different. This is the album that really came together…the one when everyone is completely happy and agrees 100% on it.  I guess it has all the elements that people like about Phoenix and fewer of the ones they don’t!”

‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’ plays like a spring breeze from start to finish, exuding freshness and well-being as it drifts over your ears. So spritely is it, in fact, that you wonder how they have managed to keep it sounding quite so box-fresh over a relatively lengthy writing period of three years.

“Well that’s the challenge we set ourselves,” claims Deck. “We always start from scratch with every record. Each time the chemistry is different and aligning ourselves to the same vision at the start is what always takes the most time - finding the right balance.”

Mars is quick to interject: “Our records really are the sum of our four parts individually and equally, especially on ‘Wolfgang…’ On previous albums there might have been some tracks which had been written by just one or two of us, but with this record we were all involved in every aspect of the song writing, right from the beginning”

The arrival of the CD changed things a lot. Suddenly you went from 44 minutes [vinyl] directly to 74 minutes and that’s when you started to get a bunch of crap albums with crap filler music – just to load up space on a CD...We write our albums to fit on the two sides of an old 12” vinyl.

One of the most striking elements, inherent in all Phoenix albums to date, is the distinct lack of filler. While the records are indeed noticeably short (all playing between 35 and 45 minutes) each song that is included has – whether to your taste or not – undeniable character. 

In a musical age where the downloadable/disposable single is king, Phoenix’s ability to craft album albums offers a welcome reprise to an increasingly neglected practice.

“The arrival of the CD changed things a lot. Suddenly you went from 44 minutes [vinyl] directly to 74 minutes and that’s when you started to get a bunch of crap albums with crap filler music – just to load up space on a CD,” says Mars.

“We try to think of our records almost like vinyl. It’s how we grew up thinking about music. 

“We write our albums to fit on the two sides of an old 12” vinyl. We make the music that we want to hear – it’s as simple as that.  If we don’t like it we don’t do it. We like to have something relatively concise which really allows us to focus for a short time on what is really important for us.”

Having lived in Paris, and freely confessing to my Francophilia, I’ve always been curious as to why Phoenix seemed to shy away from their Gallic identity, singing in perfect English, producing music that sounds more West Coast U.S.A. than Palais Royal Versailles.

“Of course, our French roots have played a part in shaping us as musicians,” says Mars, in a thick French accent that belies his amiable American twang when behind the mic.

“We’d prefer to think of ourselves more as Europeans, but the first thing that came naturally to us was to sing in English.  Like when a kid picks up a guitar instead of a piano.

“It’s simply the language of the music we are making. I guess there were just more musical influences hitting us in English. 

“Making our music accessible to a wider audience outside of France was never really a concern of ours – the fact that it has happened is just really a bonus.”

Talking of influences, I’m reminded of their recent ‘Tabloid’ compilation for Kitsuné - a patchwork of eclectic tastes that sees the likes of Dusty Springfield, Roxy Music, and Lou Reed find their way onto Beatport, of all places [listen to a preview in the player below].

Says Deck, with hints of nostalgia in his tone: “The compilation is a collection of not very well-known songs, but songs all the same that were very special to us at various stages in our musical education.”

“’Love On A Real Train’ [Tangerine Dream’s masterpiece, as featured in the film ‘Risky Business’] for example is the song that we always listen to together before coming on stage. It has such a nice vibe, but at the same time in our younger years, we were traumatised by this song.

“We’ve known each other since we were ten, so these things really mean a lot to us collectively.”

As our conversation draws to a close, after we shake hands and offer a round of ‘mercis’, parting ways, Deck’s last response about boyhood reminiscence rings in my head. Now I know how I am going to start my article.

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