{"id":74734,"date":"2019-01-14T13:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T13:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=74734"},"modified":"2019-03-12T20:36:29","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:36:29","slug":"review-pedro-the-lion-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-pedro-the-lion-phoenix\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Pedro the Lion &#8211; Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-74735\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Pedro the Lion - Phoenix\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix-465x465.jpg 465w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix.jpg 945w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Worn down by the toll life as a solo artist had taken on him, David Bazan has reignited <strong>Pedro the Lion<\/strong> after 15 years. Joined by Erik Walters (guitar) and Sean Lane (drums), <em>&#8216;Phoenix&#8217;<\/em> harks back to previous <strong>Pedro the Lion<\/strong> material, as it has much more in common with <em>&#8216;Achilles&#8217; Heel&#8217;<\/em> than anything Bazan has released through his solo endeavour.<\/p>\n<p>A certain vintage quality runs throughout the album; a wistful journey through American guitar music. Perhaps with the likes of Father John Misty aside, there aren&#8217;t many artists putting out this sort of material at present; it manages to be simultaneously nostalgic and refreshing.<\/p>\n<p>From the opening lines of <em>\u201cOn a desert Christmas morning, 1981\u201d<\/em> on<em> &#8216;Yellow Bike&#8217;<\/em> to the final plucks on album closer <i>&#8216;Leaving The Valley<\/i>&#8216;, this is quintessential <strong>Pedro the Lion<\/strong>. Introspective, considered guitar music that is emphatic and tender in equal measure. <i>&#8216;Quietest Friend&#8217;<\/i> shows <strong>Pedro the Lion<\/strong> at their best, with a forceful and foreboding intro that leads into an emotional chorus. <i>\u201cI hurt you again\/My quietest friend\u201d<\/i> sings Bazan in such a way that makes it difficult not to feel empathetic to his plight.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Pedro The Lion - Yellow Bike [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OQik6WpwRug?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The soaring finish of <i>&#8216;Black Canyon&#8217;<\/i>, closely followed by <i>&#8216;My Phoenix&#8217;<\/i>, showcase the heavier, more passionate side of Bazan and co. Despite being near the end of a lengthy record, they are bursting with unrelenting energy, contrasting with the more gentle earlier tracks. &#8216;Black Canyon&#8217; begins at a leisurely pace, gradually increasing in ferocity over the course of its five minutes, an emphatic ending leading into the intensity of the <i>&#8216;My Phoenix&#8217;<\/i> intro.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not a groundbreaking return for <strong>Pedro the Lion<\/strong> &#8211; there&#8217;s nothing that hasn&#8217;t been done before here. Despite this, there are enough positive points for it to have been worth it. A welcome return from one of the shining lights of the US indie scene.<\/p>\n<p>3.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;Phoenix&#8217;<\/em> by <strong>Pedro the Lion<\/strong> is released on 18th January on <strong>Big Scary Monsters<\/strong> \/ <strong>Polyvinyl Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pedro the Lion<\/strong> links: <a href=\"https:\/\/pedrothelion.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pedrothelion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pedrothelion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pedrothelion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Adam England\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamEnglandSO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@AdamEnglandSO<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;this is quintessential Pedro the Lion&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":74735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[16012,2884,16404,992,2982],"class_list":["post-74734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-adam-england","tag-big-scary-monsters","tag-pedro-the-lion","tag-phoenix","tag-polyvinyl-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Pedro the Lion - Phoenix - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is quintessential Pedro the Lion. &#039;Phoenix&#039; is a welcome return as Bazan and company provides a wistful journey.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Pedro the Lion - Phoenix - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is quintessential Pedro the Lion. &#039;Phoenix&#039; is a welcome return as Bazan and company provides a wistful journey.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-pedro-the-lion-phoenix\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-14T13:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-12T20:36:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pedro-the-Lion-Phoenix.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"945\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"945\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adam England\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adam England\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Pedro the Lion - Phoenix - Already Heard Staging","description":"This is quintessential Pedro the Lion. 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