Phoenix‘s blend of rock, disco, and abstract lyrics has made their music the soundtrack for dance parties from Tokyo to their hometown of Paris. In 2009, their album “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” went gold and won them a Grammy. Their next album, “Ti Amo,” is out on June 9.
Band members Thomas Mars and Laurent Brancowitz (aka Branco) stopped by our studio with a few song suggestions for your next cosmopolitan dinner party.
Ornella Vanoni – “L’Appuntamento”
Laurent Brancowitz: I like the fact that this song has elements of joy but also of sadness. The dinner party with your friends… it just unifies everything that’s good about life, which is a pretty embarrassing experience in general. But those moments, those little gems, they make it all worthwhile.
Chick Corea – “El Bozo”
Laurent Brancowitz: We heard it in Tokyo, this album. They played the whole album in a sushi, last floor of a very tall building, and it was very, very weird and very cool. It’s an album about Spain done by this crazy like jazz funk guy, and when you listen to it you can hear, you know, the genesis of all the music of the video games, the Nintendo video games.
Bryan Ferry – “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”
Thomas Mars: He’s the only guy who can purr, you know, like a cat, purr like a wild animal, but that’s gently welcoming you into his trap.
Laurent Brancowitz: I had no respect for covers or even singers that weren’t songwriters. I learned that, very, very late in my life, there is genius in interpretation.
Phoenix – “Fior Di Latte”
Thomas Mars: It’s more pure, it’s more naive, it’s almost like the base, and when you’re tired of everything else that’s added, just go to the most pure, the most simple emotion.
[This interview has been edited and condensed. You can hear a sample of Phoenix’s new track in the audio beneath the headline.]
