From the holy trinity of modern French music, only Versailles quartet Phoenix remain. Daft Punk announced their split last year, and though Air are officially still a duo, they haven’t released a full album for a decade. But Phoenix fly on without a hitch, 22 years since their debut, still sounding box fresh and effortlessly cool on a superb seventh album.
The band’s ongoing appeal is helped by the increasing dominance in the music world of the genreless sound they pioneered. Never shying from sonic detours that others might consider naff (their first album contained a nine-minute song called Funky Squaredance) today the guitars are less audible beneath a sharp digital sheen, but thanks to Thomas Mars’s casual vocal delivery and the group’s easy way with an optimistic melody, it’s plainly the same four men.
