Five Reasons To Go See: Phoenix

Under-rated alt-rock French sorts comed to Glasgow

1. They’re fashionably unfashionable
Throughout the course of four staggeringly brief but perfectly formed albums Phoenix have proved themselves masters of a studied laissez-faire and baffling nuanced lyrics rendering them thus far impervious to the mainstream.

2. They keep it in the family
Originally a Paris-based alt.country Prince cover band, they settled on Phoenix after Christian Mazzalai’s older brother joined them fresh from his Beach Boys inspired collaboration with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo – dismissed by melody maker as ‘a bunch of daft punk’.

3. They’ve got a special kind of celebrity
Pint-sized heart-throb frontman Thomas Mars has long been associated romantically with directorial heiress Sofia Coppola, facilitating lurking cameos as well as a fittingly offbeat video for United’s sprawling ‘Funky Squaredance’ from her brother Roman.

4. They care
With a painstakingly democratic production process and prolific global touring schedule Phoenix have earned themselves both critical acclaim and a vehement cult following. That’s at least three reasons to see them right there. The other two could be them bringing the kitsch 80s pop of genius Brooklyn trio Chairlift along for support.

5. They could yet be very big
OK, we’ve been saying this for the best part of ten years but with the release of the pompously named Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, an album that has seen them slip high concept krautrock into the mix and brought no small success stateside, now might be the time to catch Phoenix before everyone and his bad hair jumps on the bandwagon.

Arches, Glasgow, Sun 25 Oct.

More: Music, Previews (Music), Rock (Music), Pop (Music), Alternative, French, Phoenix

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