Phoenix

The first step David Bazan took to renew his longstanding project Pedro the Lion was possibly the hardest: In 2006, he decided to dissociate himself with the “Christian” label the press heavily ascribed to his faith-driven confessions. But taken on its own, Phoenix should please both secular and religious types alike. Bazan is at his most contemplative—he calls out the haters with clever retorts on the mid-tempo call-to-arms "Clean Up" (“The weight of the world is bearing down on me/Like Biblical weather”), while on the twinkling "Model Homes," he looks back at his Christian upbringing with anecdotal fondness (“Instead of quiet time in my room/Where Sunday afternoon felt like a tomb.”) A natural evolution from his slowcore songwriting tendencies, Phoenix is a muscular return coming from one of indie rock’s most perceptive elder statesmen.