Songs like movies

Songs like movies. May. 09, 2018 08:02. imi@donga.com.
The Dong-A Ilbo interviewed members of the world-famous French rock band “Phoenix” in Seoul. The music video of Phoenix’s 2013 hit song Entertainment features royal robes, group gymnastics and a gang. The video parodied the culture of South and North Korea. The album Ti Amo (I love you in Italian) released last year was also a tribute for the 1980s Italy and garnered a lot of attention.

The rock band has a talent of adopting a different atmosphere in all songs, and it has a deep connection with the film industry. The vocal Thomas Mars is a husband of Sofia Coppola, a daughter of Francis Ford Coppola who is well-known for his film “The Godfather.” Francis Coppola included a soundtrack of Phoenix in the movie “Lost in Translation” (2003), and the band wrote and recorded the score of “The Beguiled.” It is unusual to assign film scores to a rock band.

“I tried to create sounds that are atmospheric and dreamy,” said bassist Deck D'arcy. Laurent Brancowitz said, “I found strong reverberating sounds from recordings of Italian composer Monteverdi’s (1567-1643) Vespers of Blessed Virgin, and created metaphysical sounds by playing it very slowly, using digital technology.”

The band’s performance in Korea was a festival of light and sound, just like sputtering fireworks. “Goodbye Soleil” is a song as romantic as a chanson sang over a synthesizer on the beach of Italy. It is reminiscent of the hidden soundtrack of the movie “Call Me by Your Name” set in the 1980s Italy.