The Phoenix Foundation: Merry Kriskmass EP (Phoenix Foundation)

 |   |  <1 min read

The Phoenix Foundation: Everybody's Money
The Phoenix Foundation: Merry Kriskmass EP (Phoenix Foundation)

If you believe the anti-hype, this isn't exactly the Phoenix Foundation's cash-in on Christmas but has been inspired by The Krisk who is -- and I am just quoting here -- "a small stuffed white man who rides a reindeer". It is he who appears on the cover, has inspired this six-song EP (plus uncredited but uninteresting soundscapes buried away at the end) and is the subject of the opener, a piece of bouncy pop.

So not a jingle bell in earshot -- but on Everybody's Money the spirit of Beatles '67 is conjured up on a delightful piece of psychedelic pop, and Forget It is a chipper post-Flying Nun slice of indie-rock with fairground swirling organ. Party Below is a mildly menacing mood piece with odd noises, Wrestling With Demons is almost a seasonal singalong (except it is about walking into the wilderness) and the instrumental The Man Next Door again messes with your head in discreetly psychedelic/soundtrack way.

So, not quite a cash-in or knock off for Christmas, but the sound of a band enjoying themselves (for your sake) in the studio while recording their forthcoming album.

The signs here -- especially Everybody's Money and the slightly eerie The Man Next Door -- suggest it will be worth waiting for. Meantime . . . 

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Strawpeople: Knucklebones (digital outlets)

Strawpeople: Knucklebones (digital outlets)

That this album – Strawpeople's first in almost 20 years – should enter the chart of New Zealand music at number two shouldn't surprise anyone: there's a lot of affection for... > Read more

Beady Eye: Different Gear Still Speeding (Liberator)

Beady Eye: Different Gear Still Speeding (Liberator)

In one of life's great ironies it was, of all people, Ringo Starr who enjoyed the greatest chart success with a string of chart singles in the wake of the Beatles break-up. And who would have... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

A CLASS ACT: Kicked out of school on the first day

A CLASS ACT: Kicked out of school on the first day

I never intended being a teacher. But there is my name in the list of graduates of North Shore Teachers College at the end of 1973. Not a career I chose but . . . I'd been kicked out of... > Read more

GUEST MUSICIAN ADAM McGRATH OF THE EASTERN on what drives their new album, The Territory

GUEST MUSICIAN ADAM McGRATH OF THE EASTERN on what drives their new album, The Territory

It'd be good to know exactly where it's at. I mean the what it is, the what it was and what it shall be, are hard enough but the elusive “where it's at” creates all kinds of... > Read more