Seasoned New Zealand six-piece The Phoenix Foundation is anything but uninspired on their latest single, Beside Yourself.
The Phoenix Foundation may be a new name to you, but these fearless musicians have been in the game since 2003. Since their inception, the indie rock group has been writing and performing with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, composing the soundtrack for Hunt For The Wilderpeople, producing for various artists, and most importantly, baking sourdough.
They’ve also been cooking up the warmest tones and most euphoric hooks to transport you out of the mundane and into a sea of rhythm. Their latest offering Beside Yourself is no exception.
The allegro track is filled with gorgeous instrumentation and psychedelic tones, sounding most similar to the band’s previous experimentations with dream pop. The Phoenix Foudnation’s extensive discography of seven albums ensures every performance and tone is about as polished as you’d expect from such seasoned musos.
Beside Yourself taps along with a decorative bass line, steady 4/4 drums, synths, eerily warm pedal steel soaring over the top, rhythm guitar, and some shoegaze electrics just in case you weren’t fully immersed already. The intro vocal melody is sparse, punching in only when necessary.
However, the lyrics are poignant, and the featured delivery from fellow New Zealander Fazerdaze is ethereal and fits the dream pop atmosphere perfectly.
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“I really enjoyed working on with Samuel (The Phoenix Foundation) on this track”, Amelia Murray (Fazerdaze) says. “We recorded the vocals one morning at his place after we drank green juice and joked about how boujie and salubrious we were”.
When the chorus finally hits, the vocal layers from both Fazerdaze and The Phoenix Foundation stack effortlessly, and euphoria sets in. With its easy-listening charm, Beside Yourself is definitely for fans of Dope Lemon, but if I had to pick an influence, I’d say The Phoenix Foundation had Pink Floyd in mind when creating this psychedelic little groove.
Listen to Beside Yourself below:
