Phantom Planet Go Dark
During the eighteen-month tour to support their second album,
The Guest, Phantom Planet adopted an inspirational motto
to keep them focused: “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” Nicked
from a Daft Punk song title, the motto also helped shape the
radically different sound on the band’s upcoming self-titled third
album, due January 6th, which dispenses with the sunny vibes of
The Guest in favor of a darker sound.
“For The Guest, we needed to make a happy, fun album
that was universal in its concept and lyric,” says singer Alex
Greenwald. “We then decided that if we were not harder, better,
faster and stronger with each show, we were not living up to our
potential as a band. Out of that idea came these songs, which are
literally harder, better and more concise.”
The opening track, “The Happy Ending,” is a feedback-drenched
slice of desperation that sets up the new album’s bleaker outlook.
“Badd Business” blends ska rhythms and shouted choruses with a
lyric about an unnamed ex-friend who Greenwald says swindled bass
player Sam Farrar. “I vividly recall being in Norway on tour when
we first played it at sound check and realizing it was a turning
point in where our sound was going,” Greenwald says. “It was more
selfish and personal than the songs on the previous album. After
that person ripped Sam off, we decided that this band is its own
kingdom with a castle and a moat that is impervious to outside
attacks. That song is the winding up of the drawbridge that was
opened during The Guest.”
Several other tracks were inspired by real-life heartbreak of
varying degrees. The droning, My Bloody Valentine-like rocker
“You’re Not Welcome Here” is Greenwald’s kiss-off to a former
girlfriend. He wrote the gloomy pop tune “After Hours” just minutes
after he was denied entry into a New York nightclub because of his
outfit.
Greenwald had the dancehall bounce of Sean Paul’s “Gimme the
Light” blasted through the scuzzy downtown rock of A.R.E. Weapons
in mind when he wrote the album’s first single, “Big Brat.” For the
accompanying video — with the help of Tony Gardner, the makeup
whiz behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller video — Phantom
Planet filmed their own horror clip with sixteen-millimeter
cameras. The band also recruited director Spike Jonze, who shot
additional footage that was edited into a “making of” segment.
The new album is Phantom Planet’s first without drummer Jason
Schwartzman, who announced midway through the sessions that he was
leaving to pursue acting full time. “He finally made the adult
decision between the two sides of him,” Greenwald says of his
friend, with whom he co-founded the group at age thirteen. “It was
a little strange at first, but there’s no bad blood. We’re still
best friends.” Schwartzman, the star of the film Rushmore
and the upcoming sitcom Cracking Up, can be heard on half
the album’s tracks, while the rest feature new drummer Jeff
Conrad.
Phantom Planet are already on the road in support of their new
material, and they don’t have a end to their tour plans in sight
yet. “I’m really proud of this record,” Greenwald says. “And I’ll
spend however much time it takes to make sure everyone hears it,
whether they like it or not.”