Send "Phantogram " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 They couldn't have picked a better title. Eyelid Movies, the debut LP from the self-proclaimed "street beat" duo Phantogram, is a lush and evocative thumper indebted to the sultry side of Moby's Play. Riding a steady trip-hop inspired groove, the hushed and mostly mellow Eyelid Movies seems a fine companion piece to a long stroll or something more sedentary and meditative; point being, it sounds great in the background.But lean a little closer and you'll find plenty about Eyelid Movies to get swept up in. Behind the synth wash are shades of Portishead crackle, Dust Brothers clutter, even a little late-era Yeah Yeah Yeahs geek glamour. "Street beat" seems to be a nice way to gloss over the fact that this is, at its core, a trip-hop record, a genre that Massive Attack's latest seemed to suggest had moved well past its use-by date. But Eyelid Movies, although decidedly a nighttime record, doesn't lean on heavy-lidded noir or string-led psychodrama to get its grooves across. It gets messy, sweet, and a little weird; with most trip-hop, the best you could hope for would be two out of three. Try ignoring Eyelid Movies too long, and something will reach out and shake you a bit. Take, for instance, opener "Mouthful of Diamonds", which matches an alluringly buzzy backdrop with Sarah Barthel's breathy vocal. You could just as easily get lost in her voice or trip out on the oddly loping, slightly off-kilter synth line that underpins the whole thing. Or the ratchety thunk of "When I'm Small", which suggests a funky Odelay cut as sung by Martina Topley-Bird. Rife with sonic detail but not overrun by it, they'd still be fine songs without all the toppings. But Barthel and partner/producer Josh Carter find ways to dress the songs up without weighing them down. They can be emotionally affecting-- the "should've been easier on you" chorus of the Carter-sung "Turn It Off" is a heartbreaker-- and they can be just plain strange. The xx, with their slinky trickle of spy guitars and frequent collision of boy-girl vocals, are probably Phantogram's closest contemporaries, but there's a self-serious intensity in the xx that's lacking here. It's hard to imagine Romy and Oliver from the latter band pulling out the Weenish vocal of "Running From the Cops", and harder still to imagine them pulling it off without cracking a rare smile....full text |
| Bbc |
| It would be lazy to dub New York state pair Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter '2009’s Chairlift', but the similarities are there for all to hear. Both groups have a neat line in minimal beats, occasionally psychedelic electro-indie art strangeness, lush beds of synthesizer and enticing female vocals. But Phantogram’s greater willingness to embrace the experimental and a few different influences mark the newer band out as being an odder but equally exciting proposition. Keyboardist Carter has said Serge Gainsbourg and hip hop inspire the duo’s sound and these can both be heard on this potent debut. Single Running from the Cops trips along like Portishead and DJ Shadow sparring over dark static and Carter’s bizarre, mistreated mumble, and Let Me Go is a wanton blend of ardour and machinery which sounds like drunken robots walking arm in arm down the Champs-Élysées. When musicians throw ideas and textures together in an innovative fashion quality will occasionally drop, as it does on Bloody Palms. Indecision over whether to make abstract hip hop or Battles-style avant-pop leaves the song not quite working as either....full text |
| Avclub |
| Upstate New York has long been a destination for pilgrims yearning to pare back the excesses of the present in order to reconnect with old ways that have been dismissed as anachronistic by the rest of the world. Phantogram, the pride of Saratoga Springs, one-upped Bob Dylan in the goin’ rustic department by recording its full-length debut, Eyelid Movies, in a barn, though the results are far removed from the all-American re-imaginings of The Basement Tapes. Singer-keyboardist Sarah Barthel and guitarist Josh Carter instead favor the old-timey sounds of languid Britpop melodies, booming old-school drum loops, and other noir-ish, sensuous sonic hallmarks of mid-’90s trip-hop. But even as the influences diverge, the spirit of stripped-down, no-fuss simplicity remains. “You Are The Ocean” rides along on a finger-snap rhythm and an ethereal guitar line lifted from a Massive Attack record, an ideal backdrop for Carter to gush about being swallowed up in obsessive love. Elsewhere, Barthel affects an aloof cool on the lithe “Mouthful Of Diamonds,” dropping a toxic reference to “getting high on your own supply” in the opening line that’s later expressed musically in the amphetamine death twitch of “Running From The Cops.” Eyelid Movies ultimately has more atmosphere than songs, but for a band goin’ down the road to see Beth Gibbons, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. ...full text |
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