Phoenix are preparing to release their new album Alpha Zulu on November 4, and the latest single from the project, "Winter Solstice," posits that the band has major cyclical changes on their minds. In contrast to their two prior singles, "Alpha Zulu" and "Tonight" featuring Ezra Koenig, "Winter Solstice" is a masterfully constructed stream-of-conscious synth aria.
The song is the first to be made between two different continents. Band members Lauren Brancowitz, Christian Mazzalai, and Deck D’Arcy sent the moody, flickering synths to Mars so he could freewrite lyrics. "Why open your eyes to go to bed? / Drive straight to the ocean / Let’s see what you won’t find out / Even the righteous beheaded their loved ones," goes one series of striking lines. It's a captivating, synth-heavy work grounded in enigmatic lyricism that Mars brings to life with his Styrofoam-light vocals. As a whole, "Winter Solstice" conjures the chilling and wondrous tone that its namesake stirs.
Accompanying the track is a black-and-white video directed by Warren Fu and Saoli Nash. While the visual recalls early surrealist films from artists such as Luis Buñuel and Jean Cocteau, the two directors were more inspired by German expressionism. In the video Mars stands at the top of a cliff as fog passes in waves. At one point, the cloudy sky opens up to a feast of stars that catch Mars' eye. Then, there's a dozen floating eyes, an ominous figure in a mask, and some other wild stuff that leaves it hard to discern whether any part of this visual was supposed to be based in reality.
“We love the slow pace and painterly compositions of early cinema," the directors said of the visual. "The stark simplicity of orthochromatic film and analogue techniques fit the song like a glove…if songs had hands and needed gloves.”
Watch "Winter Solstice" below, and pre-order Alpha Zulu here.
