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Those wilfully mercurial outriders who changed their name repeatedly, disbanded and reformed to wrong-foot potential followers before firing out two diverse albums of singular brilliance in Checkmate Savage (2009) and The Wants (2011), The Phantom Band have returned with their next offering Strange Friend and today we premiere ‘Clapshot’.<\/p>\n
Working on several concepts with Strange Friend, the Scottish six-piece are all confirming their talent in the bands first public showcase in three and a half years.\u00a0Musically Strange Friend is perhaps the most straight-up set of recordings the band have put to wax. Whilst those burbling, fluttering electronics conjuring 70s sounds are still present, along with the elements of woozy organ sounds and folk that give each track that off-beat feel, overall they are producing a tighter, more polished sound. And if there is one song on this third album that really underpins the Glaswegians’ artfully skewed sound, it’s the subtle anthemia heard on ‘Clapshot’.<\/p>\n
Named after a dish from the Orkney Islands in Scotland of mashed neeps and tatties \u2013 that\u2019s swede and potatoes for the uninformed \u2013 the track is a lean stripping-back of The Phantom Band to their key component, centring around a calling out to their long love of krautrock with its constant percussive motorik \u2013 the relentless pulse infectious when coupled with the insistent sounds of accompanying organ; while vocalist Rick Anthony carries the melody with his familiar Scottish burr teetering between optimism and pessimism.<\/p>\n
The official video for ‘Clapshot’ premiered today, featuring the masked artist duo Graeme Roger and Kevin Reid who co-star in this gnomic narrative, is the perfect accompaniment to their loveable skewed sound.<\/p>\n