Phantograms Never Die

photo by Carolina Riveria

Phantogram’s haunting, post-electronic dream pop oozes a certain amount of intoxication, and the epic performance by the New York duo at Eugene’s Willamette Valley Music Festival last Saturday was comparable to watching globules in a lava lamp. I pity any one who wasn’t in attendance. It really was a seductive—if not spellbinding—show.

I recently had the chance to interview Josh Carter of the group. Here is what he had to say on the West Coast, the music industry and the future of Phantogram.

Fond memories from your last visit to Eugene?

Indeed! We had a great time playing the Willamette Valley Fest. The crowd was awesome!

Any thoughts on the West Cost vs. your native East?

So far, we have enjoyed playing the West Coast very much. We’ve had awesome response to our music on both coasts – the Midwest is great too! We haven’t really gotten to play a lot of shows in the South yet. We are looking forward to getting down there soon. There are nice people and jerky people everywhere we go… We prefer meeting friendly, sincere people.
We definitely miss home on the East Coast right now, because we’ve been on tour for a month and will continue to tour for a while.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it?

Beat-heavy pop, with spacey synths, swirling guitars, chopped up samples, honest, emotional lyrics, and a lot of texture.

What are major influences to the band, musically and otherwise?

Musically- everything from Debussy to Talking Heads, Curtis Mayfield to Slowdive, The Beatles to J Dilla…. We like all kinds of music. We draw a lot of inspiration from film and movies, too. Some of our favorite directors are David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Michel Gondry…

And what’s your favorite thing about music and the industry today?

My favorite thing about music is that it is as close as you can get to spirituality or the heart and soul of an individual. Music can touch people in ways that most other things can’t. It gets under your skin.

What’s the meaning behind the word ‘phantogram’?

A phantogram is a two-dimensional optical illusion that appears in three dimensions. We thought that ‘Phantogram’ would be a good name for our band as we are a two-piece that creates a stereophonic sound – a sound much larger than you would expect from two people.

Any acts you would like to collaborate with?

We would’ve liked to collaborate with Sparklehorse. RIP Mark Linkous. It would be cool to do scores for films too.

What are your three must have songs on a dance party mix?

EMF’s “Unbelievable”, Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”, and “I Would Die For You” by Prince.

Besides a wealth of tour dates, what does the future have in store for Phantogram?

Lots of more music and albums!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 11:31 am. It is filed under Campus, Eugene, Interview, Music, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.