French dance-rock band Phoenix got a great deal of exposure from the inclusion of their wonderful song “Too Young” on the Lost in Translation Soundtrack. A breath of fresh pop air on an album dominated by Kevin Sheilds’ dreamy atmospherics, Too Young’s churning dance beat, irresistible melodies, and urgent vocals captured an impatient young romanticism that is at the heart of Sophia Coppola’s film and it’s soundtrack. On It’s Never Been Like That, the band serves up more of the up-tempo dance-rock of “Too Young”, but falls a little short of it’s promise.
Taking nods from the dance beats of angular bands like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand, and the twin guitar attack of The Strokes and Interpol, every track on It’s Never Been like That, has a rock sound that is fresh and always danceable. Bouncy rhythm guitar, flashy drum fills, and swirling harmonies keep the energy up throughout. With this fine sound as backing, Phoenix bangs out a series of amorous pleas and feisty come-ons that are always catchy, but never feel inspired in any way. This might not be a problem for Phoenix if they were a more a rock-oriented band, but in their heart and soul, Phoenix is a pop band, and pop music always sinks or swims based on the quality of it’s song writing. Lead singer, and French heartthrob, Thomas Mars has an off-the-cuff vocal style that is mostly laid back, but totally equipped to spring into into an urgent whine whenever the mood befits him. In this regard, despite all the beats Phoenix often sound like the hipper, younger brother to Top 40 hit makers Train of “Drop’s Of Jupiter” fame. On opener “Napoleon Says”, Mars struts “ You know you’re french well/Didn’t make any decision so far./Hit me like a freight train./Please consider my request”. Clearly, on this track Mars forgets that the the ideal effect of flirtatious nonsense in a rock song is for courtship, not confusion. Even when he attempts to be cool and cocky, he just comes off as being a bit shallow and silly, as on “Rally”. In typically detached whine, Mars sings “Hook up with me, meet at the rally/I waited so long, I couldn’t find a cause./Tired or wasted I think you’re decent./ I waited so long, there’ll be no decency no”. Smarmy, these Frenchmen, no? In an attempt to perhaps gain legitimacy as a rock band, or allow the listener a chance to grab a little something from the fridge, towards the end of the album, Phoenix offer “North”, a slow building piece of brooding rock that builds and broods up to....nothing. No climax, no punch, no payoff. No nothing.
Not every track on the album falls totally flat, “Sometimes in the Fall” succeeds as a tensely charged rocker, and “Long Distance Call”, has a cool beat and damn catchy melody that’s sure to get the kids at the rock discotheque dancing. Despite these charms, after listening to It’s Never Been Like That, you feel like you’ve just been to a party that your hipster friend was throwing. There were lots of beautiful people, lots of glitz and glamour, and when someone asks you if you had a good time, you say that you did, but that you never really had a great time. You can’t always have a great time going to a party, or listening to a dance-rock record either, but isn’t a great time the only thing you want from either? |