New Zealand based The Phoenix Foundation are all set to return with their new and sixth studio album ‘Give Up Your Dreams’ this August, and what better way to give a preview into the band’s psychedelic world than with a brand new video for ‘Mountain’! Co-frontman Scott Samuel describes the new album as, “a mantra about letting go, worrying less, and enjoying your reality instead of always wanting more.” It’s also a shrewd and vibrant reminder that in The Phoenix Foundation’s gloriously absurd world of Technicolour pop, it’s the challenges you set yourself that reap the greatest rewards!
“‘Give Up Your Dreams’ could sound like a defeat but it represents something quite defiant, joyous and celebratory” exclaims co-frontman Samuel Scott of the record’s infectious rhythmic driven sound and optimistic feel. After huge success, sales and awards in their homelands it was 2011’s breakthrough album ‘Buffalo’ and 2013’s colossal double album ‘Fandango’ that saw the band reach a more global audience – 5 star reviews, ‘Later… with Jools Holland’ and Glastonbury followed. Which brings us to ‘Give Up Your Dreams’, the sound of a band with the pressure-off, embracing a freedom to explore and hone their sound at their own pace. Channeling ‘Fandango’’s beauteous side, but this time fueled by a spit ball of irrepressible energy, ‘Give Up Your Dreams’ feels like the band’s most contemporary offering yet. Recorded within the pow-wow setting of the band’s Car Club HQ in Wellington, it’s the first time the band felt totally comfortable and confident in taking on production duties entirely themselves. “The mood when we were recording was so easy, so cordial,” recalls Scott. Taking a free form approach from Chris and bass guitarist/vocalist Tom Callwood’s experiences in the city’s improv and experimental scene, the album’s cosmic vibes are an upshot of utilising gadgets to shapeshift each sound. Whilst synths were always built into the Foundation’s musical make-up, this time around they’re placed centre stage; “we spent a great deal of time messing with an old Eventide H3000. There would be very few sounds we didn’t try to mess with,” says Scott. “We turned all the cool and interesting sounds up loud so nothing was competing in the mix and you can actually hear the trippy shit.”
“After 15 years together, this album feels like a total rebirth to us” reveals Buda “it’s uplifting feel comes as an act of defiance against all our fears in life.” Take The Phoenix Foundation’s advice then: give up your dreams and good things will happen to you too. Scott concludes “It’s a mantra about letting go, worrying less, and enjoying your reality instead of always wanting more.”
‘Mountain’ is taken from their new album ‘Give Up Your Dreams’ which is released August 7th via Memphis Industries.
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