Music Review: Phoenix, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”

Rating: 84
Beginning with 2000′s “United,” Phoenix’s stylistic alchemy involved merging the crisp precision of electronica with the energy and structure of power-pop, but that aesthetic reaches maturity on the Parisian band’s fourth collection, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.” Beginning with the passionate indecision of “Lisztomania,” a reference to Ken Russell’s bizarre 1975 cult film, singer Thomas Mars, guitarists Laurent Brancowitz and Christian Mazzalai, and bassist Deck D’Arcy create their richest dance-rock romance.

Mars conducts a fast-paced argument with himself on “Lisztomania” as the band shuffles like an android version of The Strokes, leading into the bright and chiming rave-up “1901” and the luxurious disco of “Fences.” At this stage in “Wolfgang,” the album begins to take on the high-gloss cool of the band’s associates in Air as the band downshifts into the two-part “Love Like a Sunset.”