We love new artists at Wonderland: fresh, up-and-coming talent is definitely our jam. Don’t think that means we forget about guys who’ve been on this music thing for a while and keep on producing high-calibre work though. Cue The Phoenix Foundation, a progressive indie band from New Zealand who’ve been active since 1997, have put out five albums already and just released another. Give Up Your Dreams is a shrewd and vibrant reminder that the group’s gloriously absurd world of technicolour pop is one you’ll want to submerge yourself in time and again.

Recorded within the pow-wow setting of the band’s Car Club HQ in Wellington, this album was the first time the band felt totally comfortable in taking on production duties entirely themselves, and this confidence shows in the focused sound that marks this album out as a new high-point for the group. So, Wonderland are understandably excited to premiere the video – directed by Puck Murphy, who has done a few of their amazing videos, including ‘Bob Lennon John Dylan’ – for one of the album’s lead tracks, ‘Sunbed’. The band said of the track that, it “contains so few overdubs. It’s a very full arrangement, but it really is mostly just the band playing it like a band. It’s about the human obsession with UV light and what a powerful and destructive thing that can be. From turning orange with a fake tan, to melting on a tanning bed, to galaxies passing through-other stars colliding-cosmic radiation and destruction on a macro level. It’s also quite a catchy tune.” We couldn’t agree more.

 The Phoenix Foundation are currently touring the UK.

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