Phantasmagoria: Golden Planet (the review)
Breaking into Bowling Green, Ohio natives Phantasmagoria’s third record Golden Planet, one thing is clear: Aaron Pickens, Dom Grey, and Ryan Wagner have not forgotten how to write songs so capturing to the human imagination that you feel yourself transported into what can only be described as a twilight zone of shape and sound.
With almost six years passing since their sophomore, and criminally underrated, record Leap, I can sincerely say I did not know what to expect from the trio and session bassist Aaron Valdieviaz. In the business of bands that are actually good, it is almost standard for artists to shift their sound from record-to-record, until you end up with an album that sounds entirely different from their debut record.
Take Leap, released in 2008; in common practices of album releasing, bands come out with a new album every two years. If you look at Phantasmagoria through the lens of your average band, that would mean they should of had two, maybe even three albums before Golden Planet. After all, all the members are six years older, so what can you anticipate with Phantas being off the scene for so long? Will Golden Planet follow in a sensible sonic order after Leap, or will the band have become so changed that fans like myself won’t even be able to recognize them anymore?
Now is the time to take one more deep breath, and take the plunge with me.
Golden Planet is not the Phantasmagoria I grew seeing in college. Golden Planet is the Phantasmagoria that they should be, six years after the fact. Golden Planet is a masterpiece that transcends Ryan’s carefully placed synth parts, Dom’s impeccable drumming, Aaron P’s tastefully spastic shredding, or Aaron V’s undeniably yummy bass lines (this is all not to mention the album was self-produced).
Here is the part I am going to talk about how difficult it is to self-produce an album that sounds as good as Golden Planet. It’s hard. Damn hard. In fact, one of the most common advice folks within the music industry give to young bands is that if there is one thing worth investing in, it’s having someone else record your album. As a fan of records that just sound super clear, natural, with surprise production techniques around every corner, I can sincerely say that Golden Planet sounds just as good as any major, or high-end indie label release I have heard in my entire life.
Where the album really tickles me is all the glorious drum tones the band was able to create. Good drums tones are tough. Good drum tones that are recorded live, that end up sounding like they were actually recorded live and not by a robot on a super fancy Apple computer are even tougher. Throughout the record, the band shines with their drum production, and almost show it all off in “Connection 7″.
The album title track closer may be the best song I have heard yet from the band. In eight minutes and twenty-eight seconds, Phantasmagoria is able to encapsulate all of their mystique, musical prowess, and experimentation into a single jarring journey. Wagner sinks into what is unarguably his most haunting keyboard melody on any Phantasmagoria work, while Picken’s guitar work breaks through at all the right times, and creates a tremendous riff to end the record on.
Truly though, what Golden Planet can be best described as is a sonic dream come true for anyone that appreciates the original, the freeform, the unordinary, or space, or time, or love.
Long live Phantasmagoria, and long live the Golden Planet.
