Phantom Planet - Phantom Planet
The real difficult decision to make is whether Phantom Planet sounds better flexing their rock muscles or singing mellower tunes.
California has long been considered the center of upbeat, pop-driven rock sounds; from the Beach Boys to No Doubt, the California sound is one easily defined. Phantom Planet originally found itself in this category of pop rock. They even wrote a song about the state, how could they not fit into the category? Their preceding releases sounded like they should be blared out of your topless Jeep Wrangler as you drove along the Pacific coastline down Highway 101. Well folks, put your ragtop jeep in the garage because Phantom Planet has reappeared with a new sound that may make you forget they ever wrote that little ditty about the Golden State.
The band decided to travel cross-country for their latest self-titled release. They didn’t just physically leave California to record this album in New York; they also left behind the sunny state’s sound, opting instead for guitar shrilling Gotham rock. Comparisons to the Strokes are being shelled out left and right, but don’t initially brush this record off to be the next Is This It, because they honed this garage sound into their own.
The group’s first single, “Big Brat,” is a loud thrashing song with lead singer Alexander Greenwald unleashing a raspy growl that he has been impeding the last few years. One of the paramount assets of this entire album is the way Greenwald manages to flux and change his voice to strengthen the music. He has sharpened the sound of a garage band king, and manages to sound distinctly different than he did on the previous releases. When listening to this record it could cause a person to question whether it was really the drummer who left the band.
Lyrically the album is not remarkable or unique in any way, but the words do have a great flow against the music. “Jabberjaw” is a great example of this because of the way Greenwald unleashes his singing in a faster, more urgent way that coincide with the up-tempo beat of the song. The end of the tune is even equipped with a little screaming that only drives the point home that much better. In “Know It All” the vocals are merely mumbled against quiet background music until the chorus of the song when the drums are let loose and the vocals follows suit.
The real difficult decision to make is whether Phantom Planet sounds better flexing their rock muscles or singing mellower tunes. The first half of the album is basically a mix of different tempo rock songs that pays homage to the likes of Elvis Costello, Led Zeppelin, and yes, even a little to The Strokes. The record starts off by slamming right into a drum solo by drummer Jeff Conrad in “The Happy Ending”. It seems fitting the album start off in such a non-conventional way considering this record is distinctly non-conventional for the group. The one thing that really sets them apart from typical garage sounding bands is that each song on the record sounds completely different from the others. Another stand-out on the album was how Conrad uses completely different drum beats in each song, but still triggers the same reaction in the listener: to tap their feet in an almost uncontrollable manner. The songs speed-up, slow down, and then at the end of the record really mellow out for a nice quiet ending.
This album is one big sing-a-along with catchy choruses and beats that will stick in your head days after you’ve stopped listening. It seems that Phantom Planet has tried on a new style and it fits them like a pair of perfectly worn-in Levis. No need to throw out your copy of The Guest yet, because the urge to listen to “California” may occur, but this record will hold you off for quite some time.