After a decade-plus of global touring and recording, French indie pop band Phoenix are ready to release their sixth studio album, Alpha Zulu. The record, due out April 6 on Glassnote Records, was written and produced by the band in their native Paris and, according to singer Thomas Mars, marks a return to “the four of us in a room together.”
“We wanted to go back to basics, which for us is being in the studio together and playing live,” Mars said of the album, which was recorded way back in 2018.
For their first album in four years, Phoenix reteamed with producer Jean-Michel Blais, who worked on the band’s 2013 album Bankrupt!. The new album is the follow-up to 2014’s Ti Amo, which wasPhoenix’s first release on Glassnote.
Alpha Zulu was inspired by a number of sources, including the 1974 film Zabriskie Point, David Bowie’s “Station to Station,” and Swedish experimental electronic music duo The Knife.
“When we started writing songs for this album, we had no specific direction in mind,” Mars said. “We just wanted to write good songs and see where they took us.”
The result is an eclectic mix of sounds and styles that Mars says is representative of the band’s live shows.
“I think our live show has always been a good representation of who we are as a band,” he said. “We’ve never been a band that plays the same set every night. We always mix it up and try to keep it interesting for ourselves and for the audience.”
Phoenix will kick off a world tour in support of Alpha Zulu on April 6 in Detroit. The tour will make stops in Europe, Australia, and North and South America before wrapping up in Mexico City on August 11.