THE PHANTOM BAND-“Checkmate Savage”
Posted on December 28th, 2008 by ekko
I’m not quite sure what to make of The Phantom Band. Lead vocalist Duncan De Cornell has the deep, flat inflection of Matt Berninger, but the music is nothing like The National. In fact, the music is the real treasure here—the band makes unmistakably pop music, but takes the time to stretch out and jam, sometimes for several minutes without a break. It’s rare that I hear poppy jam bands. Few of the songs clock in at under five minutes, which is another indicator that these guys are into long form music. A few of these instrumental breaks get a little long, but most are fascinating and dark. In this way, the Scottish band recalls the ‘80s gothpop of Echo and the Bunnymen, and the moody aggression of Violent Femmes–but at the same time the album is cleaner, more modern, and often upbeat.
This record grows on me every time I hear it, but I still can’t put my finger on why. It feels like it is evolving, even as I listen to it. I’m never sure where it’s going from song to song, or even from verse to verse. Simply terrific, that’s how I’d sum it up.
Comment By: Ross Davidson
December 29th, 2008 at 7:46 am
I was passed a promo of the Checkmate Savage album by someone at work and have the following to say about it…
It is the best album I’ve heard in absolutely ages, as I toe-tapped my way through its synthy-krautrock-with-a-twist-of-something-sweet anthems (with a little sniff of 70s rock), stopping only to be moved to tears by the stunningly beautiful folk hymn ‘Island’. This is a band who seem to have so much to offer and, if any criticism is due, then it can only be that perhaps they are holding back a little on this record (?) for the sake of making a concise and accessible album. Don’t take this too negatively- on the contrary, I love the record how it is- my feeling that this might only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of what might have ended up on this lp only fills me with confidence that Checkmate Savage will serve as a neat stepping stone to greater magic with the next one as this promising band find their feet and settle into the public domain. In other words, I have a feeling that this is a band we’ll be hearing alot more of.
“rocks and blood, blood turned an oily black beneath the hard northern starlight” were the words used in a great review I just read of Checkmate Savage. Although all the songs are fun and up-beat, varying a great deal in style (eclectic genre-hopping) there is a subtle darkness that pervades. Being from Scotland originally I get a strong sense of an ancient and mysterious beat thudding it’s way through the cold earth and onto the lp, or the faint shreek of a banshee echoing from the misty gloaming and through the epic tracks. The faint reverberation of countless untimely deaths, the distant murmur of a free church gathering, a creek and a scratch from the dark foundations of Roslyn chapel and a stain on Aleister Crowley’s pyjama bottoms… spooky phantoms, who the heck are you?!
Ross
Comment By: Berkeley Place » THE BEST OF 2009 . . . SO FAR!
June 1st, 2009 at 7:13 pm
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