Photo by Will Moore
For fifteen years, New Zealand’s Phoenix Foundation has been pitched somewhere between the campfire and the dancefloor. They’ll indulge in a shaggy, acoustic-driven sing-along one moment before busting out the synths the next. Maybe it’s the tongue-in-cheek song titles or hooky songwriting, but there’s a Blur-like charm to the Phoenix Foundation.
For their sixth album Give Up Your Dreams—out August 7–the band added a second drummer, and the effect is immediately apparent. On “Mountain,” cascading harmonies ride an intensely rhythmic groove, sounding like if Grizzly Bear were an afrobeat band. It’s this kind of wild combination that’s kept the Phoenix Foundation humming after all these years. Download the song below.
–Art Levy
