Phoenix’ new album Bankrupt! is yet another pleasant surprise to hit our ears this spring. The band started receiving international attention with their 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and seemingly blew up overnight. A band that used to play small appearances at Grimey’s Record Store in Nashville only a few years ago suddenly appeared on almost every festival line-up across the country. And not just as one of those small names toward the bottom of the line-up – no – in big, bold letters on top.
The band’s fifth and long awaited studio album charms once again with up-beat songs that make the heart smile while raising an eyebrow at the curiosity of the lyrics.
For those of you looking for an album just like Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, S.O.S. in Bel Air is your song. But it’s the rest of the songs that make this album so intriguing. The opening song Entertainment lures you in with a fast happy beat that makes you want to jump around your living room. But the lyrics let on to the struggles that come with sudden fame. “Headline from this day on; why do you keep pretending that you wanna let go,” Mars says, giving the impression that one should be happy with the hand they’ve been dealt. However, in the end Mars admits: “I’d rather be alone.”
The title song Bankrupt! starts with experimental sci-fi tunes that make you wonder if your iPod accidentally skipped to another record. The first half of the song is so completely different from the other songs that it seems a bit misplaced, especially right there in the middle of the album. But if you sit through it, the band rewards you with a transition into soft, dreamy tunes that remind of Air. A bit bi-polar perhaps, but it definitely breaks up the record.
Chloroform on the other hand is a slow jam easily mistaken for a love song. However, it quickly reveals itself as a snobby dismissive song. “My love is cruel,” Mars states – chasing after a girl one minute just to be bored with her and dismiss her the next. But hey, at least he wrote a song about her, right?
Oblique City gives the record a dancy finish with melodies that remind of early Phoenix days. Beautifully done, the record takes you through an emotional journey of a curious collection of tunes, leaving you confused and happy at the same time. It’s like looking at a Picasso painting trying to figure it out and learning to embrace the beauty in the deconstructed. Of course you will jam out to it again and again and again.
