Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix

If you didn't already know it prior to putting this album in the CD player for a spin you'd probably struggle to tell that Phoenix are French purely from listening to this album. You might, on the other hand, guess that they, along with their record company, might be hoping that given The Killers undoubted position in the music buying public's hearts this might be the time that they can finally make that elusive commercial breakthrough.

They might, but I wouldn't be putting the mortgage on their chances. The problem is that when they started, Phoenix were arguably ahead of the trends to come; now, four albums in, they've been superceded by those that have followed them and there's no real new tricks on display to be able to suggest that they've managed to stay ahead of the curve.

In fact, despite the fact that the album clocks in at barely over 30 minutes there's a real feeling that there's a deficit of ideas and whilst their one idea might be reasonably catchy, it doesn't half get monotonous fairly quickly.

There's a couple of standout tracks (opener Lisztomania and the purposefully silly Lasso) but my overall feeling is that whilst this is an adequate record, I can't see why anyone who had heard of The Killers would want to listen to it more than once.