French dance pop quartet Phoenix is back with the follow-up to 2000's widely acclaimed United.

The best I can say is that it's exactly what you would expect from a bunch of self-proclaimed studio musicians. In an interview with Roman Coppola, Deck d'Arcy states, "We want to be more of a studio band than a live band."

Mission accomplished. The luke-warm synth-pop contained on Alphabetical is just not all that enjoyable. While I don't expect anything groundbreaking or genre-changing, I just couldn't find anything even remotely INTERESTING on this CD. The best I can say for it is that it's not distracting as background music.

It's not even a CD I can gather the passion to hate. It's probably the densest batch of middle-of the road, luke-warm pop music I've ever heard. There's really nothing compelling enough to love or to hate. There isn't even a standout sound anywhere on the album. Everywhere I look, though, this has gathered rave reviews but I just don't see what the attraction is.

Rating: 5 of 10