Alpha Zulu

Album: Alpha Zulu (2022)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Over enticing synth instrumentals, Phoenix vocalist Thomas Mars sings of humanity's impending judgment day. The title and lyric "Alpha Zulu" came from a phrase frontman Thomas Mars heard a pilot repeating over the radio during a bumpy, storm-addled flight. The urgency of the phrase inspired this track. "I remember being in the cockpit of a small airplane, flying over a turbulent area with the headphones on, and ground control calling, 'Alpha Zulu, Alpha Zulu, Alpha Zulu' - which to me sounded like 'mayday,'" Mars told Apple Music. "That stuck with me while we were writing new songs for the next album."
  • This turbulent song is one of a batch of tracks the Phoenix quartet wrote for their seventh album. "When we started writing 'Alpha Zulu,' all of our ideas came very fast and out of nowhere," guitarist Christian Mazzalai told Apple Music. "Even the guitar solo we ended up using was from the very first take."
  • Released on June 1, 2022, "Alpha Zulu" marks the French rock outfit's first new music since "Identical," a track they recorded for the soundtrack of the 2020 movie On the Rocks.
  • "Alpha Zulu" topped Billboard's Adult Alternative Airplay Chart. It was Phoenix' second #1 on the tally, following "Identical" in 2020.
  • This is the title track of Phoenix's Alpha Zulu album. The French group recorded the record in Paris' Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which is located within the Palais du Louvre. The museum was empty at the time because of the pandemic. "We felt it would be a fantastic adventure to create something out of nothing in a museum," guitarist/keyboardist Laurent Brancowitz said. "And so with the pandemic, we could live exactly this scene - to be alone in an empty museum."

    "I was a bit afraid, when there was too much beauty around us, that to create something could be a bit hard," added guitarist Christian Mazzalai. "But it was the opposite: we couldn’t stop producing music. In these first 10 days, we wrote almost all of the album."

Comments: 2

  • Ognir Rrats from BostonLet's see... Phoenix... Alpha Zulu... AZ ... Arizona? Phoenix, Arizona!
  • Helen from TexasThe "ah ah ah" sounds like the Fairlight CMI. (1979)
see more comments

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)Songwriter Interviews

"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," Kiss

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," KissSong Writing

After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."

Spooner Oldham

Spooner OldhamSongwriter Interviews

His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."