Ultimately, whether you like Bankrupt! will, I suspect, depend on whether you prefer your pop music to be 'properly' structured, contained with a nice tidy bow and playing by the rules, or trying to see where the rules can be broken and thus constantly on the verge of an utter shambles.
They’ve taken what made Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix so brilliant, turned it up to 10, and then added a few new twists to create one of the most effortlessly enjoyable albums you’re likely to hear all year.
Bankrupt!, the follow up to 2009's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, will sound familiar to the band's fans from the off, but also represents the first significant aesthetic shift in their oeuvre.
Delve deeper and this is an album reveals itself as a gem; one which mixes their crowd-pleasing hooks with an inventive shift in their sound.
It showcases an even more inventive and ambitious band, and Phoenix could well be about to establish themselves as the poster boys of forward-thinking synth-pop.
Bankrupt! lets them celebrate with a victory lap that's enjoyable for all concerned.
The resulting album blurs the lines between simple and sophisticated more effectively than Phoenix ever have before.
The album rarely deviates from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’s winning formula; befitting the band’s ascendant status, everything’s just that much more shiny, jacked-up, and frantic.
Bankrupt! doesn’t inspire the covetousness of their early material, but rather it takes its natural place as an album to be consumed en masse by Phoenix’s hefty fan base.
Phoenix are no '80s copycats, but they occupy a sweet spot where influences and their own flashy banks of synths and treated guitars sound meaty and perfect together.
With all the noise blasting at you, the charm is lost somewhere after the midpoint, and while the second side of the album isn’t bad, it’s notably less catchy and interesting.
They never lose sight of what makes a song pop in the ears, delivering an over-caffeinated, albeit logical, progression from their past efforts that actually suits them.
Bankrupt! could end up the most anti-pop pop album of the year, which is exactly as confusing as the album sounds at times. But if the choice was between confusing or boring and safe, Phoenix made the right call.
Rather than brave new sounds, it feels like a purposeful denial of the things the group is best at.
Little is bad, but little is memorable or exciting or even interesting.
There isn’t as much going on with Bankrupt! to rank it among the best albums by Phoenix, but it still works as a solid effort from a band getting used to being big. They’re just doing what they do.
[RETURN TO MY PAST ~ EPISODE 12:]
Imagine going from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix to dropping this.
Bankupt! isn't bad by any means (there are quite a few highlights) but I would overall say this album is kind of boring. I appreciate the hazy atmosphere, but the production is not nearly as strong here as it was previously. There's very little in terms of dynamics or punchiness, leading the record to be really stiff and lifeless. This combined with the abundance of generic filler (I swear I've ... read more
While not up to the standards of "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix", "Bankrupt!" still contains the catchy hooks and beautiful production that made that record fun while adding a new wave-ish twist.
Fav Tracks: Entertainment, Trying To Be Cool, Chloroform, Don't, S.O.S. In Bel Air, Drakkar Noir
Least Fav Track: Oblique City
Score:
8.5
Exceptional
This is a decent follow up to one of the best indie rock albums of the 2000s. I still think this is a step down songwriting wise and I think that this album doesn't reach nearly as many highs as it does on WAP, but it's still alright. The synths are still fun, the vocals are pretty good, and the instrumentals are nice. I just think that this album doesn't bring as much to the table all in all. Decent listen
Entertainment - 8
The Real Thing - 6.5
SOS In Bel Air - 7
Trying To Be Cool - ... read more
Entertainment - 10/10
The Real Thing - 9/10
S.O.S In Bel Air - 8.5/10
Trying To Be Cool - 8.5/10
Bankrupt! - 6.5/10
Drakkar Noir - 10/10
Chloroform - 9.5/10
Don't - 9/10
Bourgeois - 9.5/10
Oblique City - 8.5/10
1 | Entertainment 3:39 | 84 |
2 | The Real Thing 3:22 | 72 |
3 | S.O.S In Bel Air 3:43 | 76 |
4 | Trying To Be Cool 3:48 | 86 |
5 | Bankrupt! 6:57 | 73 |
6 | Drakkar Noir 3:22 | 77 |
7 | Chloroform 4:04 | 81 |
8 | Don't 3:16 | 70 |
9 | Bourgeois 4:53 | 76 |
10 | Oblique City 3:29 | 73 |
#21 | / | Amazon |
#22 | / | Rolling Stone |
#29 | / | Stereogum |
#41 | / | Under the Radar |
#47 | / | Uncut |