Amnesiatic

"Amnesiatic" is the debut single by electronic dance outfit Schizophonic, a spin-off project of Phoenix Rising by guitarist Alexei Monaghan and his two brothers, Sylar and Raphael. The song featured a heavy dance production in contrast to Phoenix Rising's pop-rock material of the time; James Moss would later make the same stylistic change when he launched his solo career three years later. "Amnesiatic" was released on February 9th, 2009, but was a commercial failure, debuting and peaking at #13 and selling minimally.

Background
In 2008, as Phoenix Rising were getting their break in the industry with the release of their debut single, Alexei's brothers Sylar and Raphael began working on music together. Alexei announced his intentions to join them for the project, and the three brothers christened the outfit "Schizophonic". The trio spent a short amount of time writing extensively together in order to craft an album, of which "Amnesiatic" was chosen to be the lead single from the album, because it was deemed commercially friendly. The single was the first proof of Sylar's production skills, and of Raphael's multi-instrumental talents, with the single featuring a blend of both live sounds and computer-generated elements, along with Alexei's lyrics and lead vocals. Alexei took time off from Phoenix Rising in order to devote to getting Schizophonic off the ground.

Reception
With Phoenix Rising still being new and not having established a good reputation yet, Alexei's decision to step away from the band to work on a side project was not met favourably, and there was criticism of the move within the industry. Alexei, in turn, did not react favourably to the criticism, which impacted negatively on the single. It was not well-received with the public and radio was reluctant to give it airplay, and the single did not fare well on either chart. The single, and Alexei's temporary break from Phoenix Rising to support the release would also impact negatively on the band's third single which suffered from the controversy.

Tracklisting

 * Promo CD
 * 1) "Amnesiatic" (Radio Edit)
 * 2) "Amnesiatic" (Call-Out Hook)


 * CD1
 * 1) "Amnesiatic"
 * 2) "The Dynasty Schizo-Mix"
 * 3) "Amnesiatic" (Total Recall Edit)


 * CD2
 * 1) "Amnesiatic" (Radio Edit)
 * 2) "Darkroom" (Album Edit)
 * 3) "Amnesiatic" (Dan'Elle's Un4tunetly Beatz & Botox Shiz)
 * 4) "Amnesiatic" (Total Recall Remix)
 * 5) "Amnesiatic" (Aftershock's Frozen Explosion Edit)
 * 6) "Amnesiatic" (4gotten Thoughts Vocal Mix)
 * 7) "Amnesiatic" (Extended 12" Club Mix)

Music Video
The video is set in a futuristic nightclub. The three Monaghan brothers are seen in different areas of the club during the opening shots. Alexei is at the bar, Sylar is the DJ and Rafe is surrounded by bodies on the packed dancefloor. We focus on Alexei singing the song during the first verse as he has a drink. He gets up abruptly when he sees a doppelganger of himself with pure white eyes (no irises or pupils) approaching him. During the chorus, we see similar doppelgangers of Rafe and Sylar approaching their own counterparts. The originals flee. In the second verse, we follow each Monaghan brother individually as they're pursued by their evil doubles. The interior of the club shifts and changes behind each brother, so that they can never go back the way they came.

During the second chorus, they begin to notice changes in the other clubgoers as well -- they seem to have the same white eyes as the evil doubles, and they try to grab at the Monaghan brothers whenever they are near. We see the action in slow motion during the bridge. Alexei's mouth is moving in real time to his vocals but he is running slowly down a disappearing corridor with his double in pursuit. Elsewhere, Sylar is running up the stairs, pushing people down behind him to keep his double at bay while Rafe hides behind the bar with his double just on the other side. During the final chorus, the brothers finally figure out how to get to the exit of the morphed club, reaching each other right at the end of the outro. The door opens and they rush toward a white light on the other side just as their doubles slam into them. The originals and the doubles merge with themselves, forcing them into the light. It's then that we see the three brothers jerk awake, and we find that they're each strapped to their own virtual reality machine. They look each other, confused, as the video fades to black.

Chart Performance
After the initial success of Phoenix Rising, there was hope by the band that "Amnesiatic" could also chart in the top 10 like Phoenix Rising's two singles that had charted prior. However, the controversy surrounding the project and Alexei's strained relationships with his industry contemporaries put a damper on the single's potential. As such, it missed the top 10 and spent only three weeks on chart before falling off. It only scanned 46k in total, the lowest total of any Phoenix Rising-connected release, and a personal worst for the trio's management. Radio was not kind to the single, and it spent only two non-consecutive weeks on chart with an initial peak of #39 before peaking at #30 on its second appearance. The digital chart was not operational at the time. The single was not released outside the UK due to its poor commercial performance.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 46,990
 * Week 1: #13 - 17,001
 * Week 2: #19 - 18,874
 * Week 3: #30 - 11,115