Phantogram Albums Ranked
Phantogram is an American music duo from Greenwich, New York, formed in 2007 and consisting of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter. The band defines their music as electronic rock, dream pop, electronica, and trip-hop, and has described their sound as “street beat, psych-pop”. According to Carter, their music has “lots of rhythms, swirling guitars, spacey keyboards, echoes, airy vocals”. Carter and Barthel were inspired by numerous artists including The Beatles, David Bowie, Cocteau Twins, J Dilla, The Flaming Lips, John Frusciante, Serge Gainsbourg, Madlib, Sonic Youth, Yes, Kevin Shields, and Prince. They write and record in a remote barn in Upstate New York called Harmonie Lodge. The band has released four studio albums (Eyelid Movies in 2010, Voices in 2014, Three in 2016, and Ceremony in 2020), four EPs (Phantogram and Running From the Cops in 2009, Nightlife in 2011, Phantogram in 2013), and 10 singles. Here are all of Phantogram’s albums ranked.
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6. Phantogram EP, 2013
“I loved Phantogram’s Nightlife EP so much, especially the title track which reminded me of sitting in a cab after a useless night of partying. This self titled EP may be brief but it’s a jampacked with the changes they have gone through since their last effort. The music is still gloomy but the music is less glittery. The skittish beats are still there, the melodies are denser and the arrangements are still clever. But what matters most are the vocals. They’re captivatingly charged with sensuality and passion.”
5. Nightlife, 2011
“Vibrant, melodic, and exotic, but the upshot of which is nothing remarkable or legendary. I’ve listened to this EP a lot, probably given each track 15 listens and my favorite tracks 30+ listens, but I can’t find the words to do it justice
4. Ceremony, 2020
“Ceremony is a great demonstration of how strong Phantogram are at their best and most confident. With bombastic production, anthems abound, and flourishes of future garage guitar lines, this is what a proper followup to Voices should’ve sounded like.”
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3. Three, 2016
“Three is a more focused and overall stronger effort than their sophomore effort Voices, mostly due to the duo dropping all pretense of being apart of the indie sphere or being capable of producing colorful art pop. Instead, they concentrated on what they do best: wonderful sounds and huge, clean, and skilled production backed by more conventional pop songwriting to create the best hooks of their careers and by far their most cohesive release to date,”
2. Voices, 2014
“This is very nice album, offers something little different from your typical annoying pop shit. Production is very clear and good, vocals are also very nice. Sadly sometimes album almost falls a bit on the boring side, I guess compositions aren’t always the very best here even if mostly decent at least, still extremely pleasant listen if you want something more laid back and chill but still rather experimental.”
1. Eyelid Movies, 2010
“The synths on this album are great and the atmosphere is nice, but what truly shines on this album are the beats and the guitar, both of which are reminiscent of a less minimal The xx. The vocals are inconsistent, ranging from mind-blowingly excellent [You Are The Ocean] to severely lacking [When I’m Small]. Ultimately, while this LP has it’s flaws, it has some truly amazing moments. Recommended to any fans of trip-hop, downtempo and ambient pop.”
