Pedro The Lion - Phoenix
Critic Score
Based on 18 reviews
2019 Ratings: #372 / 805
User Score
Based on 132 ratings
2019 Rank: #580
Liked by 3 people
January 18, 2019 / Release Date
LP / Format
Polyvinyl / Label
Indie Rock / Genre
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Skinny

David Bazan’s return to his most widely known creative outlet, to release their first record in 15 years, is far from a cynical retreat to better-paid pastures. Turning to the past to better understand the present on Phoenix – an invigorating and tender examination of the cyclical nature of our lives – Bazan is comforting and challenging as he welcomes back (rather than desperately trying to revive) an old friend many will be very glad to be reacquainted with: Pedro the Lion.

80
Drowned in Sound

Phoenix, David Bazan’s first album in over 15 years under the Pedro moniker, indeed, feels more like a reconstruction than a revival.

80
Spectrum Culture

In place of innovation ... we get an album that begs to be dissected, teeming with life and rich detail – one that sounds exactly like what the Pedro the Lion of 2019 should sound. If this is what it sounds like when a band is “in it for the money,” we all owe capitalism a small thank-you note.

80
NOW Magazine

Phoenix stands as a complex, giving record backed by some of Pedro the Lion’s finest musical compositions.

80
Uncut
This is no desperate grab at nostalgia, then, rather a chronicle of important personal moments reexamined through the lens of time.
80
The Line of Best Fit

Far from feeling immediately accessible, Phoenix is an album which one needs to immerse themselves, exploring its intricacies and feeling the palpable emotion that, like all of Bazan’s previous work before it, is at the very core of the record.

80
Sputnikmusic

Phoenix is much more than what floats to its surface, and far greater than the sum of its parts. It's an album of stories.

80
Under the Radar
Pedro the Lion is alive. And it is emotional. Like it always was at its best.
80
Paste
Though much of the album looks back on his youth, these 13 new songs aren’t a nostalgia trip so much as an effort to make sense of his present by examining the past.
80
PopMatters
As the narrative begins and the album settles in, Bazan's voice is more full and powerful than ever, and the return to familiar writing processes pays off.
76
Pitchfork

These songs are a corrective to nostalgia, or of longing for a rose-colored history that never actually happened. In reckoning with who he was and who he has become, Bazan is squaring off with the past and asking hard questions of it and himself.

75
The 405

As Bazan embraces his current self by looking at his former, we learn the story of his life, and by the time the 14 tracks of Phoenix are over the picture is clear.

70
AllMusic
Older, wiser, and still passionate, Phoenix is a worthy continuation of Pedro the Lion's legacy with just enough spirit to set it apart from his 2010s solo work.
70
God Is in the TV
With a troubled career and a turbulent history of line ups behind them, it’s an achievement that Pedro The Lion have managed to rise from the flames at all. Let’s hope, on this evidence anyway, that we won’t have to wait 15 years for the next one.
70
Northern Transmissions
Though Pedro The Lion is already blending loud rock with more ambient and psychedelic tones, it’s the scatterbrained approach to his music right now that feels a little harder to follow.
60
Mojo
There's still a lot of soul-searching at mournful tempos, but reconnecting to his roots has made for a fine set of songs.
60
Dork
No one tells a story quite like David Bazan. ‘Phoenix’ – his first under the Pedro The Lion moniker in nearly 15 years– is a powerful return, filled with sketches of still life frozen in time and conjured from deep inside the soul.
50
No Ripcord

Yes, Bazan's voice has matured significantly, but the hard-worn grain, without more musical interest to carry it forward, does nothing but add heft to an already droning sound.

80

I honestly love this album, even though it's not Pedro the Lion's objective best. Yellow Bike

AltReview
60

This first album in 15 years isn’t a very strong comeback. Some forgettable songs, but colourful and nostalgic lyrics.
Best track: “Powerful Taboo”.

heitorch
65

Delicinha de ouvir, não conhecia essa voz e estou impressionado.
bem estruturado, porém o conjunto final deixa um pouco a desejar.

Melhores Músicas: Leaving the Valley

80

I honestly love this album, even though it's not Pedro the Lion's objective best. Yellow Bike

AltReview
60

This first album in 15 years isn’t a very strong comeback. Some forgettable songs, but colourful and nostalgic lyrics.
Best track: “Powerful Taboo”.

heitorch
65

Delicinha de ouvir, não conhecia essa voz e estou impressionado.
bem estruturado, porém o conjunto final deixa um pouco a desejar.

Melhores Músicas: Leaving the Valley

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Track List

1Sunrise
1:01
11
2Yellow Bike
3:53
53
3Clean Up
2:48
52
4Powerful Taboo
3:24
64
5Model Homes
3:21
53
6Piano Bench
1:38
58
7Circle K
3:34
44
8Quietest Friend
4:22
54
9Tracing the Grid
3:15
51
10Black Canyon
5:23
62
11My Phoenix
3:24
62
12All Seeing Eye
2:42
44
13Leaving the Valley
6:09
46
Total Length: 45 minutes

Year End Lists

#21/The Alternative
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Added on: November 3, 2018