Phoenix - Bankrupt!

When I was reviewing the Strokes' fifth LP earlier in the year, I was doing so whilst also getting into this. The thought crossed my mind that this, Bankrupt!, also a fifth album for a seasoned indie behemoth, was exactly what the Strokes were trying to sound like. Only, Phoenix wanted to do it well, and paid attention to it.

Us Brits aren't terribly well versed in the Frenchmen, probably because of some channel-crossing tensions that always surface when it comes to sport, cuisine and war. 2009's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was really the first I'd heard of them, but even then it struggled and charted at a lowly #54 over here. Let us swiftly rectify that, then, by means of a glowing review. Fingers crossed.

It seems strange really that Phoenix should stick to that whole 1980s new-wave revivalism since they helped usher it in in 2009, and there is a danger of the genre dying (much like chillwave at the moment) and leaving Bankrupt! irrelevant and dated. They do well, then, to open with lead single 'Entertainment', and its flourishing far-east hooks (certainly the most obvious and kitsch since Aneka's Japanese Boy). A belter of a chorus assures that affairs get off to a rollicking start, if you'll forgive the Britishisms, and the most triumphant proclamation of "I want to be alone" is made. Joyful solitude; very now. My Strokes observation takes an eery weight with the vocal similarities on 'The Real Thing' between lead singer Thomas Mars and Julian Casablancas. Calling back to past relationships, Mars is both rueful ("How could I have missed that one?") and happy to have moved on ("So long Salome"). He's just as preoccupied on the tropical, dancy 'SOS in Bel Air', which seems to allude to fakeness, and empty wealth and fame.

One of the album's purest and surest hooks lies in 'Trying to be Cool', a sort of anachronism of sounds (K-Pop synths, American drawls and glam rock progressions all try and vie for attention) soundtracking the schmaltzing and oddly smooth Mars and his mint julep testosterone. A pulse is allowed to form on the gorgeous intro to the title track, before some unfortunately indulgent and poseur-ish lyrics take hold. They stretch out their seeming contempt of their newfound showbiz pals on 'Drakkar Noir', a telling damning of "fake riches, oblivious tales" that segues into 'Chloroform' (and you can bet those song titles weren't accidental). He calls back to Entertainment's "my love is" line before redefining it as "cruel", in a slick, bleak and intense instrumental backdrop.

This whole newfound-riches and disillusionment thing might just have distanced itself from a few longterm fans, so 'Don't' comes as quite the welcome reprieve. As straightforward and infectious as previous crossover hits 1901 or Lisztomania, even romantically and emotionally ("I'm foreign and under stress"), it sticks out. The hook, too, of 'Bourgeois' is immediately gratuitous, and paves the way for all sorts of summery hazy moments (all the while slapping wealthy fad kids around the head). Phoenix close with 'Oblique City', a hook a little similar to LCD Soundsystem's All My Friends and otherwise not totally remarkable.

The album seems to lose its away a little around the middle mark with its claims of experimentation and attempts at profound critique upon the wealthy and the elite, but Phoenix thankfully manage to rediscover their knack for irreverent, but intelligent, electropop. The themes and various musical influences reinvigorate them to some extent, and make Bankrupt! at least worth your time.

Rating: 8/10
Highlights: Bourgeois; Entertainment; Chloroform; Trying to be Cool; Don't
Avoid: The Real Thing

Artwork Watch: aw
Up next: Yeah Yeah Yeahs