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Phantogram - Nightlife [EP]

Barsuk Records

by nikitar, November 9th, 2011 and has been Read 1636 times.
Last Edited by: Jack Stovin November 11th, 2011.

Winter is upon us, my friends. I'm talking cold, unrelenting winter (not much of a fan myself). As the weeks pass and we dive head first into December there are already a myriad of albums coming out to keep us entertained for the next three months and Phantogram has been so kind as to hand over their Nightlife - EP.

Phantogram does not ease the listener into Nightlife. The beat of "16 Years" starts immediately and has a somewhat startling effect but as soon as Sarah Barthel's soft vocals settle in there is an even greater calming effect. "16 Years" is a good dream. It's steady, predictable, and enjoyable, though not life-changing. The second track, "Don't Move", is more along the lines of what we've come to expect from Phantogram. The song grows from a series of vocal and brass instrumental samples and has a cool kid hip-hop feel to it that makes it an instant earworm. It's easy to see why this is the first single from Nightlife and clearly this is the track that will anchor new and old fans until the band releases their next full-length album.

"Turning Into Stone" struggles between being uplifting and utterly depressing and is perhaps the uninspired low point of the album as it could easily pass for something by the xx. Overall this track lopes along and tries to be upbeat to no avail. From there Phantogram bops through the threatening fight song of the year 3000 "Make A Fist" and then makes a complete 180 with the graceful ode to relationships-lost in the form of "Nightlife". Honestly, on "Nightlife" the marriage between electronic and rock is pure perfection but once this track has lowered your defenses Phantogram comes at the listener hard with unimpressive album closer "A Dark Tunnel", which is both accusatory and apologetic.

Phantogram does not suffer from a lack of talent or vision. They definitely know how to manipulate an instrument, write a song, and all that jazz but Nightlife has no uniformity. Here Phantogram says, "Hey, we can play electronic rock!" And the listener will respond with "Cool!" and then move on. I understand that EPs are usually a band's chance to experiment with some new sounds until they can figure out the direction for their next LP but there's a limit to what the listener can take. If anything, this album will get fans excited for their next album without generating much excitement for the EP itself.