Entertainment

Phoenix – Entertainment [Blood Orange Remix]

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As some of you might remember, I had some issues with the chorus on Phoenix latest single, “Entertainment”. I thought and still hold that it fits a bit unnatural amongst the blazing synthesizers, leading to an unfortunate loss of momentum. Now, it’s still a pretty decent single, but should to be seen in the light of their long and impressive discography. Interestingly, producer Dev Hynes, more famed as Blood Orange – the producer behind Sky Ferreira and Solange (to name a few), chose to entirely rerecord the original refrain with the recently reformed original Suparbabes line-up. Together with Hynes trademark take on chilled-out 80’s R&B, the chorus suddenly makes a lot more sense. Hynes created a surprisingly convincing version, considerably slowed down and minimalistic in its nature, but still it wouldn’t feel complete without the massive Prince-like guitar solo that’s thrown in to top things off. It’s an original take on a more or less traditional synth pop, sounding like no remix I’ve ever heard before. I don’t know if I dare to say it, but it’s a remix that actually works better than the original.

 

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Phoenix – Entertainment

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So back into synth-pop again then. Well, it’s not much to do when the French battalion brings out one of their heaviest guns. Still, we must admit that we expected a stronger single from Phoenix. Since their albums never tend to hold all the way thru, their singles usually comes off as the best way to enjoy their ever-changing explorations. To be truthful, the instrumentals on “Entertainment” are one of their best yet. The Chinese-inspired synthesizers with the blazing “You Could Be Mine”-drumming is a solid show-off in anthemic mayhem.

Alongside, “1901” this is definitely the most crowd-pleasing song they’ve ever recorded. You can really see a potential festival crowd chanting along the synth-melody in a euphoric bliss. As expected the production is impeccable, with the synths occupying a large chunk of the higher frequencies, so it’s not that surprising that Passion Pit’s Gossamer is what pops in mind stylistically. I am however a bit disappointed, mainly because the refrain is usually Phoenix strongest side, whether you consider “If I Ever Feel Better”, “Everything is Everything”, “Consolation Prizes” or “1901” – they’ve always managed to squeeze out some memorable hooks. The chorus on “Entertainment” sounds a bit forced and the song unfortunately ends up losing a lot of its momentum, but hey, it’s still nice to welcome Phoenix back after 4 years of hiatus.

Their fifth album Bankrupt! is set for release on the 22th of April.

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