Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [Glow In The Dark]

Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix lights up in more ways than one on this glow-in-the-dark coloured vinyl edition of the French band's 2009 breakthrough.

Their fourth studio album arrived after years of cult acclaim and turned Thomas Mars and his bandmates into one of the biggest names in indie rock. Co-produced with Philippe Zdar and recorded in Paris, it fused new wave sheen, sophisti-pop polish and guitar-band urgency into ten songs that never waste a second. It went on to win the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

The opening pair of "Lisztomania" and "1901" is about as perfect as modern pop-rock gets, built on chiming guitars and hooks that refuse to let go. The two-part "Love Like A Sunset" stretches out into a slow-building, mostly instrumental centrepiece, while "Fences" offers a cooler, more wistful glide.

There is a playful intelligence throughout, from the classical-composer name-checks in the titles to Mars' impressionistic lyrics, which favour sound and feeling over tidy narrative. The whole thing runs a little over half an hour and feels even shorter, the kind of album that ends just when you want it to keep going.

Spinning it on vinyl that glows once the lights go down feels entirely in keeping with a record built on bright, kinetic joy and endless replay value.