With The Modernists, Phoenix Horizon joins the dark, brooding pop army began by My Bloody Valentine and currently led by such acts as Her Space Holiday and Starflyer 59. Phoenix Horizon carries on the tradition in grand style, delivering hushed, dreary melodies over muddied, laid-back instrumentation to create a musical blend rife with feeling and all the other good things about pop music.
The wonderful thing about the shoegaze sub-genre of pop music is that, while displaying similar characteristics, there is a wide variance of sounds constructed. Phoenix Horizon is proof of this, as they pattern their songs after the example of past Eeyore pop bands, but use their historical position to bind several of them together while adding their own elements. In other words, they follow a tried-and-true formula of pop song-writing (isn't all pop like that?), but add enough of their own personalities and individual characteristics to make The Modernists a rewarding and intelligent listen (isn't all great pop like that?)
Phoenix Horizon owes more to Gold-era Starflyer 59 than any other influence, but they take their songs in a different direction than Martin did in 1995. The songs are more laid-back, mellow, and slow, and there is not as much controlling feedback and distortion. The sound is still somewhat muddled, as Phoenix chooses to paint a lush aural landscape with their songs rather than concentrating on clearly defining vocal lines or over-powering guitars.
The opening and closing tracks of the record are instrumental, book-ending the rest of the record in a sort of tired, give-me-some-black-coffee sort of mood swing. In the middle, Christy's deep voice delivers sparse, often unintelligible vocal lines over slow-tempo, though oddly driving, beats. Phoenix properly understands that leaving the vocals low in the mix can add a very desirable effect to the overall sonic and makes ample use of that principle.
There's something to be said for intelligence even in the midst of simplicity. Phoenix Horizon plays that angle very well, making their inclusion in the indie pop scene well-deserved and welcome.
