The polyphonic oui

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the latest album from French ethereal indie-pop merchants Phoenix, finds the band taking a playful look at some iconic figures and events in European history. Aside from the album title, there’s also a track called ‘Lisztomania’, about the famous 19th century Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, who has been described as “the first rock star.”

“The album is talking about European mythology, as opposed to a more classic rock ‘n’ roll mythology,” proffers Phoenix’s guitarist, Branco. “We were trying to do popular music using themes that aren’t used very much. It’s this idea of continental Europe and the cultural references that surround us – we tried to do rock 'n' roll with that.”
The results are hugely impressive, with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix veering from the group’s trademark dreamy pop to more experimental numbers such as the Neu!-esque ‘Love Like A Sunset’. Interestingly, for the recording of the album, Phoenix decided to utilise Brian Eno’s concept of “oblique strategy” cards – essentially slogans designed to free musicians from creative stagnation (eg. “State the problem in words as clearly as possible” and “What would your closest friend do?”)
In a novel twist, Phoenix opted not to use the Eno originals, but rather write some new cards of their own (Phoenix’s lead singer, Thomas Mars, has admitted that laziness prompted him to centre many of his lines around the general concept of taking a break).
“We love those kind of things,” says Branco of the approach. “We prefer when music is kind of self-created and we don’t really interfere. We like ideas that do not really come across from us, but from something different – it always creates material that’s more interesting and unpredictable.”
Mars has stated that the motorik groove of ‘Love Like A Sunset’ was conceived as the soundtrack to his commute from Versailles to Paris.
“Actually, we did a lot of those little things,” explains Branco. “They’re instrumental tracks that put you in a certain mood; it evokes that feeling of driving through a tunnel. We’ve thought about doing an album with only that kind of music. It talks to some primary emotion we don’t quite understand, but it’s really powerful.”
Phoenix drafted in French house guru Phillipe Zdar (who had previously worked on their first record) to do some production on the album, although, surprisingly, Branco says that Zdar didn’t really contribute to any of the electronic elements.
“People think he would help us to plug things into samplers or whatever, but he never really touched any instruments. In fact, he nearly never recorded – he was more like a spiritual guide. It was strange, because he would come for five minutes a day, and listen to the songs and give some advice – and his advice was perfect. It was very weird – he had this very clear vision of what was working. He really shaped the album and his presence was very important.”
Branco actually started out in music playing alongside Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo in the band Darlin’ (one review described the group’s music as “daft punk”, thus providing Bangalter and de Homem-Christo with the name of their next project). The guitarist then joined Phoenix, whose first engagement was to provide the backing track for a brilliant up-tempo remix of Air’s ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’.
Branco says that Phoenix still remain friends with Daft Punk and Air. It’s interesting that all of the bands share a creative aesthetic that is equal parts melancholic and humourous.
“Being a bit far from the UK and the US, we had a very romantic vision of music,” Branco reflects. “It was almost mythological – unclear, blurry. It led you to ask, ‘Where are the limits?’ For you, I guess it was different because the rules were clear, but we could listen to a country song, and then Prince and My Bloody Valentine – everything was as exotic. We really didn’t care about genre classifications; it was about something more mysterious. But it was important that we had distance from any of the major musical centres – everything looks more beautiful when it’s a bit far away.”
One of Phoenix’s videos was directed by Roman Coppola, and of course Thomas Mars had a child with Sofia Coppola. I have to ask – have the band met the great Francis Ford Coppola?
“Yeah, he’s part of the family,” Branco enthuses. “He’s a fantastic person. We’ve been to his ranch in San Francisco… he’s bigger than life!”

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is out now on V2