Alphabetical

It may have been made in the wake of an international breakthrough (namely, the ripple effect of “Too Young” lighting up 2003’s *Lost In Translation*) but Phoenix’s follow-up largely trades sprightly garage rock for something softer, subtler, and smoother. It’s a bold attempt to recreate the ‘80s pop that first entranced these Versailles schoolfriends (see the snapping yacht-ready groove of “Run, Run, Run”). A concise, deceptively complex gamble that pays off handsomely.

Look, when the time comes, we're all going to have to repent our wrongdoings to someone. You and I ...

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Alphabetical is Phoenix's second album, trailing their debut by nearly four years.