Phoenix unleash new single ‘Winter Solstice’
Phoenix have unveiled ‘Winter Solstice’, the latest single from their forthcoming studio album Alpha Zulu.
The French indie group, who recently returned with the album’s eponymous single, have finally completed work on their seventh album. It will serve as the follow-up to 2017’s Ti Amo and has been described by the group as a “weird Frankenstein of an album”.
“We realised at this late point of making Alpha Zulu that it was very broad in sound and we should emphasise this spread,” Mars said. “Some albums you want to focus on something specific, but, like our first [album], we wanted to embrace that diversity in a place like this.”
The brand-new single builds suspense in the intro with soaring synths and a muffled beat, before Thomas Mars sings of “fine jewellery” and “girls playing hula hoop”. At its peak, the synths reach an unbridled height of energy, as the chorus reads: “Fly straight through the ocean/ Let’s see what you won’t find out/ Cover your eyes from the Winter Solstice”.
‘Winter Solstice’ is met with a moody music video directed by Warren Fu. The intergalactic monochrome imagery sees Mars standing atop a cloud-covered mountain peak, set against trippy visuals and a backdrop of starry skies.
Elsewhere, frontman Mars recently discussed the band’s collaboration with Vampire Weekend, whose singer Ezra Koenig features on ‘Tonight’. “There’s always been a synchronicity with us and Vampire Weekend,” Mars said of their peers, “We’re curious about the same things and we’re reaching for the same sounds and inspirations.”
Last year, Phoenix shared a standalone single titled ‘Identical’. According to Mars, the track, released as part of the On The Rocks soundtrack, will find company on a forthcoming album “somehow”. At present, it’s uncertain whether ‘Identical will feature in the upcoming Ti Amo follow-up.
At the time of the single’s release last year, Mars offered an update on what the band’s upcoming album might sound like. “There’s no coherence, and it’s a little bit like our first record, maybe, United, which had songs that would explore heavy metal and then country music.”
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