Displaying all the dash and panache of a turn-of-the-century stroll down the Seine, Paris-based Phoenix deliver a double dose of pop/funk excellence to open their studiously cool second album.

The divinely melancholy Everything Is Everything and the expertly crafted Run Run Run bristle with Gallic charm and make perfect summer songs. As you would expect from the stablemates of the Kings Of Convenience, Phoenix deliver a five-star melody at the drop of a beret.

Victim Of The Crime and Holdin' On Together weave their magic as folk guitar strum and edgy drum breaks fill the ultra-modern soundscape.

Tracks such as If It's Not With You and Alphabetical shimmer with an AOR sheen that would make Hall and Oates blush and 10CC gracefully lay down their guitars.

All in all a delightful fusion of funky hip-hop and sun-soaked pop, honed in a Parisian basement, but left to mature in the LA sun. Alphabetical proves that sometimes making music is just as easy as ABC....

Updated: 09:01 Thursday, August 19, 2004