On a fairly drizzly and otherwise uneventful day, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Phantogram concert. I’d read some reviews saying they were excellent, others saying they were underwhelming. Either way, I’ve been a fan of the band since I first heard Eyelid Movies, which came out in late 2009. I’d always thought of Phantogram’s music as hip-hop inspired, trippy pop, which is coincidentally great for long road trips in the rain.
I arrived with my friends around 9 PM, an hour after Josiah Wolf, the drummer of WHY? was scheduled to come on. Inside Mr. Smalls were only about 40 people. Josiah Wolf and his guitar accompaniment (who also provided vocals) supplied a solid-sounding shoegaze-y performance: very appropriate for preceding the melancholy Phantogram.
The segue between performances consisted of beat-driven music which got me even more pumped up for the band I came to see. The rest of the audience seemed to feel as excited as I did; again I felt nervous – why are there so few people here? Maybe they truly aren’t that great live.
That prediction could not have been more wrong. Josh Carter, sporting a unobtrusive red shirt and jeans, and Sarah Barthel, in a simple but sexy black outfit complementing her sleek black bob, quickly set up the stage and dove right into “As Far As I Can See.” I positively melted while the misty notes of the sultry and touching melody drifted through the venue. Barthel’s double-tracking was executed flawlessly, but I wasn’t quite prepared for such an intense, fleshed out sound delivered by Carter’s guitar playing and the drummer the duo added to the set. On the album, the songs pack energy and feeling, but this performance took their music to a new level. Having duly impressed the audience with their opening song, Phantogram continued on with “Running From The Cops.” This brings me to their projected mini movies – a creepy but interesting film depicting a bleeding couple involved in a car chase with some grotesque aliens played during their second song. During following tracks, the projections seemed to alternate between geometric patterns and following a pale young woman in a white dress wandering around a forest. The dreamy projections definitely accompanied the music quite well. Phantogram played the rest of their album, driving the audience to groove with the beat-heavy “Bloody Palms” and “Futuristic Casket.” “Let Me Go,” ordinarily a pretty and sad ballad, culminated in an explosion of sound at the end, an interesting take on the track. The slower tracks, “Mouthful of Diamonds” and “All Dried Up,” were wonderfully performed. I couldn’t help but admire Barthel’s outstanding stage presence; although she was stationed behind the drum machine and providing breathy vocals, her frequent head-banging was invigorating (especially considering this was the band’s third-to-last show on their tour). Her vocals went above and beyond my expectations, as “Turn It Off” she sang close to an octave higher than she did on the album!! “You Are The Ocean” was powerful and heartrending as well.
In the middle of their set, the duo (who barely spoke onstage) announced they were about to play a new track. My friends and I agreed that it sounded great. I would say that it seemed to have slightly less of a structure than their older material, but the new sounds all mixed together indicated the band is moving in a great direction, in which I am highly interested!
Phantogram closed their sadly short set with “When I’m Small,” having only gained energy during their performance. The duo quickly left and came back for their encore of “All Dried Up,” accompanied by a projection of spastically flying through stars a la Windows 95 screensaver 2.0 (it was so, so great).
I only could have seen improvement in two aspects. I wish they had included distortion for Carter’s vocals, which are admittedly creepy but, in my opinion, make Phantogram’s sound unique and thought provoking. Additionally, the trade-off of the rich, guitar-heavy sound for the more intricate parts of each track was mostly welcomed, but I did miss the tiny details of each song I know so well.
As I left, I realized that overall it was truly one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Few other bands deliver such a true and simultaneously exploratory rendition of their music, while still keeping the audience in the zone and managing to entertain (especially for a band which relies heavily on electronic components!). Needless to say, I bought a T-shirt.
- Cassia Priebe
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