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Let’s Soft Rock!

There was a time when bands would sell their kidneys if it meant that they could convince people that they were from France . It all happened around the end of the 1990s, when Daft Punk were at the height of their powers; when Air were the undisputed kings of the downtempo movement; and when even second rate acts like Cassius were being hyped, mostly because they were French, and because they hung around with Air and Daft Punk.

It was in this atmosphere of Francophilia that the group Phoenix burst onto the scene. Coming from the same Parisian suburb as both Daft Punk and Air, and even having performed for a while as Air’s backing band, it was always pretty much inevitable that they were going to cause a stir. And they did.

Their debut album, United, won over the hearts and minds of audiences everywhere back in 2000. The comparisons with Air weren’t unfounded: Phoenix managed to make music with guitars in the same way that Air made it with electronic equipment and samples: sunny, cheerful, shimmering pop that came across as the aural equivalent of walking barefoot through a Parisian suburb on a perfect summer afternoon. Or something. Because of this, they’ve always been a group that its particularly difficult to dislike. They’re accessible, catchy, and perfectly illustrate the French musical ethic of everything being done in the best possible taste. Despite the fact that it’s a genre that has about as much credibitly as Country and Western, there’s only one way to best describe what Phoenix do: Soft Rock. It’s a term that’s been tarnished by association with tasteless, saccharine-sweet 80s ballads (think Air Supply rather than Air) though this didn’t stop Phoenix from winning a sizable following. In fact, the only reason there is to dislike Phoenix is for their success, for the fact that they became something of a ‘hipster’ group: the kind of music that is hyped for a few months and then forgotten about by the time the next big thing comes along.

Being welcomed with such enthusiasm, the second album was always going to be a problem, which is probably why it took them four years to come up with the next one, entitled Alphabetical. Receiving a rather lukewarm critical reception, it nevertheless gave the band two good singles: Run Run Run, and Everything is Everything, again two slices of pop so perfect that even your grandmother would probably try to download them from iTunes.

And so we come to the third album, ‘It's Never Been Like That’, released May 2006. Phoenix , until now, sounded like the sonic equivalent of a housewife with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: every single noise on their songs seems as though its been put there deliberately, and the whole thing has the appearance of being a meticulously arranged bedroom with brilliant white walls, minimal design and everything in its proper place. However, ‘It's Never Been Like That’ represents a move away from this kind of perfectionism, a move towards a more punk ethic. Recorded in four months in East Berlin , it’s the sound of three guitars and a drum kit playing stripped down rock and roll – spontaneous, energetic, chaotic. It’s Phoenix trying to be a little bit more like The Strokes. That, at least, is the idea.

In reality, ‘It's Never Been Like That’ sounds, just like the other two albums, a bit too perfect. It’s like the housewife has spent all day trying to make the bed look as though its been slept in, arranging every fold. Despite doing their best to distance themselves from the trademark sound that made them famous, it’s still the same old Phoenix . And it’s, once again, hugely enjoyable. Two great singles are just waiting to be taken from the LP: "Long Distance Call" sees the band lurch between precision and punk, effectively forming a bridge between their old and new styles, while "Courtesy Laughs" is quite simply a damn fine song. Like the previous two albums, this is perfect summer music, full of the easy, West-coast atmosphere of sunshine pop. You’ve got to try very hard indeed not to enjoy it.