The Phantom BAnd - Checkmate Savage
Checkmate Savage is the debut album from Glasgow's Phantom Band. A band who are prone to performing shows with bags over their heads, changing their name at every gig (hence the Phantom Band moniker) and listing the following instruments in their MySpace biog: ‘Libraries, cheeseboards and ASBOs’ amongst others. Making it fair to assume that Checkmate Savage is not going to be your run of the mill indie album.
Boasting more influences than there is word count for this review, Phantom Band do more than imitate the sounds of their favourite artists. Instead they are informed by a mindset and an attitude that is common amongst the most obvious influences. This is one of pushing boundaries, challenging convention and searching for a fresh sound.
What you get then is the humour of Zappa and Beefheart, the electronic experimentation of Can, the darkness of Nick Cave and a tendency to use traditional methods and instrumentation in a new and refreshing manner not unlike John Fahey, all of which results in an album that is at times breath taking, confused, infectious, frustrating but always original.
‘Crocodile’'s bass line repetitively throbs, as traditional and contemporary instrumentation weaves in and out amongst it. As song structures go there isn't really any to speak of, just a long repetitive passage that becomes hypnotic and leaves you trancelike when, at 5 minutes, a melody of distorted, fuzz guitars breaks through the wall of sound and takes the driving seat until it all starts to die down again. It's like long bout of love making; building and building to a frenzy followed by the hazy sweaty come down and the rise and fall of a pulse or heavy breathing. Similarly, ‘Lefthand Wave’'s minimal structure and crescendo leaves you breathless, feeling like you've been through one hell of an intense journey.
‘Islands’ is driven by the warm fuzzy bass which envelopes you and creates an unimaginably full sound, especially alongside the chanted lyrics. It's a song that brings to mind a Scottish Will Oldham, and also boasts some mesmerising atmospheric sounds in the form of scraped piano strings and violin.
‘Throwing Bones’ seems unimaginative in comparison and could easily soundtrack a 1980's BBC car programme before it goes all AWOL and introduces what sounds like the bastard sons of the Flying Picketts. One would have thought that this would be an experiment filed in the 'seemed like a good idea at the time' drawer, however it works and shows that they're one of the few bands that can add a measure of frivolity and fun to proceedings without ever trivialising it.
As far as bad ideas go, an album that mixes country, folk, electronica, sea shanties, goth and krautrock should be up there amongst: Fight Club the musical, Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines and Duran Duran's - 911 Is A Joke. However, what it actually is is an inventive, original and spellbinding ride and well worth an hour of your time.
Top Tracks: 'Lefthand Wave', ‘Crocodile’.
Released 26/01/09 on Chemikal Underground