The fire burns bright for Phoenix! In 2000, Phoenix’s first album release, United, blazed across the musical skies like a newly discovered comet. Paris, London, New York and Tokyo were all captivated, with everyone heaping praise on them, name-checking them as influences. The single Too Young recently made it into the soundtrack of Sofia Coppola’s movie Lost In Translation. Buyers and critics are unanimous in hailing the current album Alphabetical as a brilliant follow-up. Great composition, great performances, great production and attention to detail: the combination that leads to the band’s success. Phoenix have once again given birth to a mutant, drawing on a range of disparate influences to create an idiom that is both coherent and profoundly original. Phoenix have the knack of flawlessly unifying the seemingly incompatible – it’s never artificial, never laboured.