Phoenix Announce New Album 'Ti Amo', Reveal Sci Fi Inspiration

(Radio.com) Phoenix have announced their new studio album Ti Amo, which will be released on June 9th and revealed that the first single was inspired by Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

In a new profile by The New York Times, singer Thomas Mars discussed the album's lead track "J-Boy," which he describes as having "a sort of romantic sci-fi feeling I like."

Mars specifically sites Steven Spielberg's sci-fi classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind as inspiring. "My wife told me that a teacher once said to her, 'This is the best metaphor for being an artist,'" he said. "And when you look at it this way, it's incredible -- the whole neighborhood looks at this guy [Richard Dreyfuss's character] like he's insane, but he has a vision." Read more here.