Phantogram
Ceremony
Universal Music
Lifelong friends Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, otherwise known as Phantogram, have returned with their first album since 2016, Ceremony, and while it is largely heavy-hitting electronic pop with a few softer songs on the back end, this collection is dark and melancholy when you put your ear close to it and reflects a world that is fractured and uncertain, a world where every mirror is cracked so that nothing can ever be seen clearly. I probably donβt need to tell you, but a lot has happened since 2016, for the world, but also for Barthel, too, and this album, in many ways, reflects the instability of life that we are reminded of in these strange times.
A bit of backstory goes a long way here, as Barthel recently posted a letter on Twitter discussing the loss of musicians and family through suicide, saying βin one way or another, if it was on purpose or on accident, all of my heroes were gone leaving meβ¦it was one tragedy after the next from suicides, overdoses, school shootings, festival shootings, etc.β Thus followed a period of personal struggle as the band searched for its own purpose, before a move to Laurel Canyon allowed them the change of scenery and space to think that would go on to produce the tracks on Ceremony. As she states at the end of her post, βCeremony was inspired by self-care and seeing how common of a struggle everyday life had become. What is life after suicide? How do we move forward?β
Strong stuff.
In some way or another, these songs attempt to provide answers, or at least emotional expression, to many of those concerns. The first half of the album features the dark, beat-heavy electronic pop that has defined the band for some time. Opening track βDear Godβ has a funky, hooky opening and βIn a Spiralβ clearly reflects some of the aforementioned struggles of Barthelβs (and our own) emotional life. βLove Me Nowβ is another great track featuring searing, fuzzed out guitar rips and βLet Me Downβ is chaotic as fuzzy speakers seem to blink like a strobe light, and low beats rumble as Barthelβs voice swirls. βNews Todayβ is a warbly song with voice filters and echoes, a track where words stall out, where everything seems to be buffering and discordant.
The last few tracks, starting with βGlowingββa beautiful, touching balladβreveal a shift in tone, and represent something like emotional progress, or, perhaps more likely, just simple exhaustion from all the very real drama of the world around us. In the end, itβs probably a little bit of both, and thatβs something a lot of listeners will be able to relate to.
ArtistΒ Links
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: PHANTOGRAM – CEREMONY
Dan Kennard