Dryvetyme Onlyne

Phoenix
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Glassnote; 2009

Guest Contributor: Michael Dallas Miller

When I was handed this album, it took me a long time to decide how I truly felt about it. There is good reason why this record got my critical mind into a tug-of-war. The fast-paced guitar-pop of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is no doubt enjoyable, but does that make it good? Certain Eagles songs make me feel good, but overall, I don’t like the band. Same thing goes for Gwen Stephani, The Game, and David Bowie. In order to decide how good this album is, I had to look beyond the enjoyment and pick out the skill, the subtle working of this indie-pop quartet from Paris, France.

Mostly, this album splits itself into three categories. The first section we will call “Not Good,” because these songs are not good—obviously. This includes “Countdown” appearing on the album’s latter third, as it appears to be a a musical grab bag of studio scraps with no suitable home. “Fences” has a 70’s dance club rhythm and Do-The-Hustle clap beat that helps me understand why some people loved disco and why some people thought it was the worst thing ever to plague pop music. I think Michael Dallas of 1976 would fall into the latter category.

The second category is “Decent But Ignorable.” There isn’t anything wrong with them, but they’re ultimately unremarkable and only serve as buffers between the other two categories. These songs include “Armistice” (although this tune does have a decent organ section, the rest of the song never grabs much of my attention) and the final track “Girlfriend,” which consists mostly of controlled feedback and completely uninteresting pop beat. The last 45 seconds of epic acoustic guitars attempt to pull the track out of the quicksand of mediocrity, but unfortunately run out of rope.

Finally, the last category: “Good.” The opening track, “Lisztomania” has a killer back beat, easy melodies and guitar licks, and finishing bridge with just enough build-up to settle down gently in true euro-pop form. [Editor's Note: The band's Wikipedia entry describes "Lisztomania" to mean the Beatle-esque reception often enjoyed by Franz Liszt.] “Love Like A Sunset” follows a similar pattern and resembles Tegan & Sara, if the sister were males and lived somewhere on the outer ring of Paris instead of Alberta, Canada. “1901” makes my teeth hurt (this, somehow, is a good thing) with its dirty organ beats, but soothes me with a bridge that is so smooth and natural, it sticks in my gums like caramel (as any great song section should).

The questions remains: how to balance these categories and determine the strength of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix? It can’t be by sheer quantity, as that wouldn’t be creative enough. The ultimate question has to be, does the album serve its purpose? As much as this album does not follow me around all day – whenever it ends, hardly a melody or rhythm or lyric stays with me – it is still enjoyable while it is on, and perhaps that is all a boogie-pop album is supposed to be. If so, consider it a near-bullseye.

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Michael Dallas Miller lives and works in Seattle, Washington. He spends most of his time writing for various online and print magazines, working at the Pike Place Market in an oil and vinegar shop, going to the many shows available in town, playing basketball, training for his first marathon, and trying to find the best Pad Thai in Seattle (the best omelet search ended two years ago at Katina’s Kitchen in Magnolia). His work has appeared in Sound NW Magazine (both print and online editions), Geez Magazine, and Burnside Writer’s Collective, as well as one poem in The Lingua Journal.