One of my favorite bands, Phantogram, released their fourth full-length album, Ceremony, this past Friday, and I couldn’t be more psyched about it! As a lover of Phantogram, it wasn’t hard for me to “fall in love” with this new record.
Coming off the heels of 2017’s Three, Ceremony‘s sound seems like a logical next step for the band. Lyrically, the tracks don’t bear the same weight as Three did, but that record was an homage to the emotions both Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter were working through after the death of Barthel’s sister just a year prior. I feel like there will always at least be some somberness to a Phantogram album, but this has hints of looking towards a brighter future, like “Into Happiness.”
I think it will still take me another full listen to really like every song, but as part of the first pass through, “Mister Impossible,” “In a Spiral,” and “Love Me Down” are all standouts. Closing and title track “Ceremony” sounded like a great anchor to the record with some familiar flow. It reminded me of the last song off of Voices, “My Only Friend.”
Another similarity to that record is the cover art itself. While Ceremony has Sarah and Josh’s image sliced and mirrored, Voices also had the two band members featured on the front with striped shadows crossing their faces. I’d like to think it’s a small callback to that effort.
While reading through the album and song credits, I was intrigued by all the sampling used for the songs. The original artists seemed so obscure that I’m slightly curious to hear them in their original format. Either way, Phantogram always manages to create something unique and original to themselves, and you’d be a fool not to listen to them. What are you waiting for?!