FRENCH FRIES
Besides serving as soul mate to filmmaker, Sofia Ford Coppola, Thomas Mars also plays lead man to French indie pop band, Phoenix, and daddy to a beautiful kid named Romy. While he was down in Jakarta recently with his band to play, we got this new age rake to lay the background on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the outfit’s latest album.

There are a couple of classical music references in this album…
We grew up in Versailles, French, where history and culture influence us in our songwriting. For us, it’s contemporary to take things from the past and make it your own, like classical music. The track “Lisztomania” itself is a story of person who feels he has two souls within himself and is confused as to which path he should take.

What makes Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix different from your previous albums?
We try to make each album sound different from the others. The last album took us three months to make while Wolfgang took two years to complete. So, it’s really different. It’s more complex with more layers and a touch of synth.

And how did the theme come about?
It’s all a process of choosing items and combinations from thousands of different choices. At first, when we were still recording, we didn’t know where it would take us. It all becomes clear on the last weeks of production and then we have a vision of what’s happening.

Tell us about the cover. We like those bombs…
When we decided on the title, we knew we must have a pop cover. There’s no particular meaning but we love the idea, because it’s very stupid and very pop art in a way. But it’s very important to use a pink background behind the bombs! (Laughs)

Read the rest of the interview in the January issue of JUICE, now out at these spots.

www.wearephoenix.com

Text: Astri Darmayanti