French Indie-Pop band, Phoenix, introduce another song from their upcoming seventh studio album Alpha Zulu. “Winter Solstice” follows last month’s “Tonight,” which is a collaboration with Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig. The Versailles rockers had also dropped the LP’s title track “Alpha Zulu” in June.
Directed by Warren Fu, the music video seems to be inspired by American filmmaker David Lynch’s mind-bending movies. The eccentric visuals complete the song’s peculiar and gloomy lyrics: “A restricted area/ Shaped like a Petunia/ Thank god you know your ways/ It’s in your mind/ It’s on all the time/ And I find it hard to explain/ What would you trade me for/ This girl’s playing hula hoop/ Under the malicious/ Winter solstice.”
“Winter Solstice” was completely written remotely and it’s the only song that Thomas Mars, Deck d’Arcy, Christian Mazzalai, and Laurent Branowitz didn’t master together in the studio. The track was developed from a long loop that Brancowitz, Mazzalai, and D’Arcy had sent to Mars.
Alpha Zulu will come out November 4 via Loyauté/Glassnote. The band’s first album in five years is the follow-up to 2017’s Ti Amo. The forthcoming LP is inspired by late friend and collaborator Philippe Zdar, who sadly passed away in 2019. The Phoenix members admit that Zdar influenced a lot of their choices, “We had many moments where we could feel his ideas.”
Watch “Winter Solstice” by Phoenix here: