The Phantom Band – The Wind That Cried The World

PROG AND KRAUT TEXTURES meet the rough-hewn directness of Rick Anthony’s resonant baritone as Scots sextet The Phantom Band pre-launch a June album (Strange Friend) that reinfuses an element of their protean “liveness”. Single The Wind That Cried The World is driving and buffeting, but also alive with shivers of the ethereal and earmorm ‘whoah-whoah-woah’s. Like a cliff walk in a stiff breeze, we’ve found it spiritually refreshing.

"The verses have a kind of nursery rhyme musical naivety and we wanted the choruses to just sort of blast in,” explains Anthony. “The lyrics were kind of stream of consciousness that alludes somewhat to the inherent meaninglessness and randomness of artistic creation. The whole track acts as a nice opener and first single: a sort of a statement of intent after being away for so long."

“We'd have fallen apart long ago if any one band member took the reins.”

Duncan Marquiss

Strange Friend follows Checkmate Savage (2009) and The Wants (2011) – both enthusiastically reviewed by MOJO – and re-emphasises The Phantom Band’s aptitude for multi-faceted and original music that makes a virtue of the maturity and catholic non-trendiness of six diverse, strong-minded individuals.

“We'd have fallen apart long ago if any one band member took the reins,” reckons guitarist Duncan Marquiss, “and that friction between people throws up music that no single person in the band would have imagined otherwise. I still hope our utopia will turn into whisky fountains and flying sandwiches.”

If you think that sounds tasty, check out more album info, or go see The Phantom Band live.

Live dates:

Tue 3 Jun 2014 Glasgow The Art School Wed 4 Jun 2014 London Hoxton Bar & Grill Thu 5 Jun 2014 Manchester The Deaf Institute Fri 6 Jun 2014 Aberdeen The Tunnels