Phoenix: Bankrupt!

Phoenix’s first album in four years is not a louche reflection on economic Armageddon.

The title was chosen, rather, for aesthetic reasons (singer Thomas Mars thinks it looks nice written down, especially with that playful exclamation mark at the end). This is a brisk, playful pop record that revels in its bubblegum inscrutability. It is also a forceful argument in favour of kitchen-sink studio gloss: opener ‘Entertainment’ features keyboards so polished you can probably see your reflection if you look close enough, ‘The Real Thing’ is produced to within a centimetre of its life and has a zinger of a chorus at the end; on ‘SOS In Belle Air’ Mars, other half to filmmaker Sofia Coppola, segues between contemplative balladeer and guitars-out power-popper. The group let their experimental side show on occasion – but for the most part, Bankrupt! is nothing less or more than a cracking new Phoenix record…

Key Track: ‘The Real Thing’