Within the first few seconds of Phoenix’s latest offering, you get a feeling that this is going to be good.  The French pop outfit decidedly delivers their strongest material to date with an extremely catchy collection of rock and roll songs.  Lead singer Thomas Mars’ description of the album as “Fast and Intense” is pretty right on, as the album is anything but a bore.

The album starts with a toe tapping frenzy, with an incredibly strong opening stretch of strong material: “Lisztomania”, “1901″, and “Fences”, and there is not much drop off from there.  The high point on the album, “Lasso” is undeniably catchy and was seemingly taylor made for a mix tape.

If I have any complaint with this disc it is that sometimes the band gets a bit ambitious, trying to stretch “little ditties” into a 7 minute opus.  This however is a forgivable offense, as for the most part the band keeps it very tight and succinct.

There is a little something for everyone on this disc, and it is certainly deserving of the strong reviews it has garnished.  Listening to this album in a public setting is guaranteed to get you asked “What band is this?” over and over.