After a break from making new music and two years on the road, Phantogram comes back with what should have been their debut album, Nightlife.
Not that critics from all over the place didn't give them shining reviews on their 2010 effort—members Sarah Barthel and Joshua Carter just didn't expect their first record, Eyelid Movies, to be met with such success.
""We were just planning on putting it out for us to use as a demo,"" Barthel said in a phone interview. ""If we knew what was going to happen to us and we knew where we would be at this moment, I think we would have Eyelid Movies sound more like Nightlife.""
The only disappointment Phantogram fans will experience with Nightlife, a six-song EP, is that there isn't more to listen to. While incorporating many of the same synth and sample sound techniques luxuriously layered over organic guitar, piano and whispery vocals in tracks like ""Don't Move,"" the songs also have a heavier tone than their first work does.
""I think it's a lot darker, more sad to me, personally,"" Barthel said. ""And it's more dynamic for us.""
This new edge is especially prominent on tracks like ""Turning Into Stone"" and ""Dark Tunnel."" ""Turning Into Stone"" features a near militia-sounding backbeat and extra reverb. ""Dark Tunnel"" has vocal parts by both Carter and Barthel that take listeners on a journey of soaring soprano highs only to drop them back down to ominous, pit-in-your-stomach low tones.
The trouble comes when listeners try to categorize these sounds. Critics and fans alike have described Phantogram's music as dream-pop to psychedelic, but Barthel had a surprising revelation on the band's style during her interview when asked how she would describe them.
""I probably shouldn't say this but, we're emo,"" she said cautiously. ""That would probably freak everyone out, but in a way we are. The best way to describe it is to not try and pigeonhole. We like to write really beautiful, emotional music.""
This becomes pretty clear once listeners have a look at the lyrics. Take this excerpt from Eyelid Movies' ""As Far As I Can See,"" for example: ""As far as I can see / Nobody loves me / As far as I can tell / Nobody loves you with her.""
""[The lyrics are] very open. They're very open for everyone,"" explained Barthel. ""There's a lot of sadness and happiness and love, and I guess just life experiences that go into the lyrics that Josh writes.""
And although Carter composes the lyrics of their songs, Barthel says they both can relate to what he writes, mainly because they're together all the time. That's probably why, when they had some time between touring this summer, they decided to spend the break apart. A good chunk of Nightlife was composed with each of them working on something and sending it to the other via e-mail, though guitar parts had to wait until they were back home at the studio in Sarasota Springs, N.Y.
The duo went to high school together, but the two weren't very close during this time. They were, however, both in band, with Carter on drums and Barthel playing saxophone. When asked if any saxophone might make it onto a future album, Barthel chuckled and at first said no but then gave it more thought.
""Who knows? If its done right I think it sounds really cool,"" she said, but no saxophone solos made it onto this latest album.
Regardless of their experiences with high school brass and snare, since their inception in 2007, Phantogram have been a rapidly rising success story. Playing festivals like Sasquatch, Coachella, and Lollapalooza and opening for artists like The xx, Caribou, and School of Seven Bells, any appreciators of good tunes will not want to miss these up-and-comers' Madison appearance with the quirky sultans of synth, Reptar.
Their show is Monday, Oct. 24, at the High Noon Saloon, with the fun starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are $13 in advance or $15, at the door and those in attendance are in for a special treat. Even though Phantogram's new album isn't technically scheduled to release until Nov. 1, Barthel says copies of Nightlife will be on sale at the show exclusively for concert-goers.
