Deriving their name from an optical illusion, Phantogram is a duo of friends since junior high school, Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter. Their EP snapshot of Nightlife is the kind of follow up one would like to see after their aptly titled debut, Eyelid Movies. Electronically laden and beat driven, Nightlife might be the best recent attempt to soundtrack a night. There are certainly the highs like dance number “Don’t Move”, in which the chorus is beautifully juxtaposed “All you do is Shake shake shake/ Keep your body still, keep your body still.” Capturing their airy vocals and growing ambition, the intro track “16 Years” is another highlight that stands right alongside lead single “Don’t Move”.

Phantogram would describe what they do as “street beat, psych pop”. This EP is a portrayal of those words. The end of the night jam “Turning into Stone” drops these street beats through an airy atmosphere, an Interpol style background riff, and emotionally charged vocals. The song finally concludes with a mysterious and beautiful coda, think trip-hop queen Portishead’s “Glory Box”. Along with the highs, Phantogram also brings the weird with the one dud on the EP, “Make a Fist”. Sarah echoes “This is the future” and pseudo beat boxes in the weirdest Phantogram song yet, but not without some “wow” moments of its own(think the drums).

“I’m okay, only in the nighttime”, Sarah croons on the title track and night closer. The breakdown of beats in “Nightlife” hearkens the beat ridden intermission of “Turn it Off” from their debut album, and nowhere is the style of drummer/producer Jamie xx more apparent than in these moments. The xx are Phantogram’s closest contemporary, also releasing their debut in 2009 and are also currently working on a follow up to that Mercury Prize winning album. The sharing of vocal duties is an obvious comparison, and while The xx are bantering back and forth, Barthel and Carter are looking to make songs out of cohesive ideas, like an EP about Nightlife complete with a dance track telling you to “keep your body still” and the cawing of crows.

Rating: 8/10

RIYL: Portishead, The xx, Yeasayer

By: Michael Pasotti

Last 5 posts by mpasotti