Album Review: Phoenix - Ti Amo

French music has become awesome in the last 10 to 15 years, in myriad genres. And then there's Phoenix.

Happily defying genre classification — although fitting very loosely and a little uncomfortably into the pop spectrum, given what pop music has become in recent years — Phoenix effortlessly create uber-catchy music that simply cannot fail to turn a frown upside-down.

Ti Amo is an enigma, in that it is so bright, fun and breezy, but so full of substance at the same time, it's brimming with savvy songwriting nous. It can be enjoyed on many levels, from blasting out of the speakers as you cruise down the beach on a warm summer's day, to in a room alone with headphones on, shutting out the rest of the world. Such is the aura it creates. In an era where mainstream pop music is plumbing ever-deepening cesspits of conveyor-belt inanity, this record is the sweetest and freshest breath of air imaginable.

It's not difficult to imagine it popping up on swags of peoples' 'Best Albums of 2017' lists.