Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That

If you're vaguely familiar with a band like Phoenix, then you’re well aware that their last album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, was a monster hit. Featuring massive hit singles and filled in with tremendous music that was both catchy and utterly fantastic, it was their ‘breakthrough.’ And they took it in stride, too, profusely thanking fans for coming out to see them as if they were a new band barely getting started.

Well before that album was their 2006 release, It’s Never Been Like That; an album that is equally just as good but often, overlooked and forgotten about. And it’s funny because it follows a very similar formula for success that Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix took too. There are sweeping hits that get everyone to sing along, there are moments where the songs are terrific slices of pop and there are moments where they showcase their musicianship and craft building, flourishing music that is entirely instrumental. Check out the double-punch of “North” and “Sometimes in the Fall.” The former is a minimal, looping drive that carries you all the way until the clashing opening drums of the latter. But later on, you get lost in its tenderness and both are the kind of songs you bliss out too, allowing them to wash over you. – Bryan