The small Chinese characters running underneath the acknowledgements found on the back cover are the only hint as to The Phoenix Prestige's provenance, but serve to explain the slight delay between release and review. Based in Hangzhou, China, but comprised of two Irishmen and an American, the band is easily one of the most intriguing prospects to swing by my post-box in the last year or so.
"The Bullet Catch", their debut EP, mixes explosive cinematic instrumentals with a side order of electronic trickery that reminds somewhat of a stripped down British Expeditionary Force. There's a remarkable variety to the EP which defies its five-song duration: ranging from instrumental noise-rock of "Death Defyers" and "The Bullet Catch" to epic quasi-minimalist sound collages of "Antarctica", the band rarely picks a style and sticks with it. "Damage In The Dark" plays out on the back of the repeated refrain "Damage in the dark/damage in the heart/damaged by a dark, dark art", with just a lonely guitar strum for company until the very last minute which sees the whole thing swell and simmer hypnotically, vocals overlapping and drifting off into the background. Curiously, and this is perhaps a point where the band's variety gets the better of them, they also sees fit to throw on a startlingly unexpected drumbeat denouement. It's enough to make me question initially whether there is something wrong with my CD, so out of place as to belong almost to an entirely different song.
"Death Defyers" builds ominously, as a shuddering beat constructed from swirling synths and string-like keys creates a rumbling undercurrent over which the band detonates bursts of roaring guitar noise. You can make out twinkling MIDI melodies punctuating the squall but the pummelling force produced by the band is what makes the track so invigorating. Likewise "The Bullet Catch", which melds chugging guitars, ominous outbursts of doom-laden shouting, big-budget film samples ("V For Vendetta" and "Memento") and almost Postal Service electronics into a decidedly fearsome din; the piece de resistance, however, comes just after, in the form of the nine-minute "Antarctica". The initial moments are graceful, delicate, and the piece unfolds at the pace of a slowly melting icecap. A deliberate and consciously restrained development sees stuttering electronics and a sparkling synth line emerge from the swirling fog. The cold and clean melody line contrasts perfectly with the audio swells that billow beneath it; this is music to soundtrack the desolation to be felt on that coldest and windiest of continents.
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The band's grasp of how rock music can be epic, cinematic and meaningful reminds me of Crippled Black Phoenix, albeit less intense and a lot less eccentric. The variety of instrumentation and their experimentation in the differing moods music can inspire in the listener makes this intelligent and exhilarating EP well worth your time.
The Phoenix Prestige on Bandcamp
The Phoenix Prestige on MySpace
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