PHANTOGRAM: NIGHTLIFE

GENRE | TRIP-HOP
VERDICT | ROCK ‘N’ ROLL IS DEAD
LABEL | BARSUK
RELEASE | 11.1.11
PHANTOGRAMMUSIC.VIRB.COM

Maybe Lenny Kravitz was right when he said “Rock and Roll is Dead.” Drug-addled rock stars of decades past had to write love songs to cover up their addictions to sex, drugs and the bottle. Saratoga Springs-based Phantogram has branded their unique take on trip-hop with love songs that make the metaphor of addiction twice as meta.

Unfortunately, Nightlife does not live up to the greatness of its predecessor. The songs cover many of the same themes and the sound of 2009′s Eyelid Movies is still here, but Nightlife is almost too happy.

Earlier critics of Phantogram have argued that the twosome is just a rehash of ‘90s acts like Mono. I don’t think that’s true.

Even on a low note like this, there’s a desperate danceability to every song, as if Sara Barthel and Josh Carter are asking you—no, begging you—to dance their pain away.