The Wants by The Phantom Band – Album Review

by Matt Callard

Debut album Checkmate Savage has bubbled away very nicely since 2009. Initially picking up two-paragraph plaudits then gaining a gently rolling snowball momentum through word of mouth. All is poised, then, for this sophomore effort to kick on and take the band into, well, The Championship at least.

It doesn’t disappoint, taking the debut’s inventiveness and sense of adventure while adding hooks and extra layers of mystery. A stunning, shape-shifting opening track (‘A Glamour’) sets the standard, full of synthy stabs and tribal beats and whooping before a weird riff-laden coda.

“On the cusp of greatness”

It’s an audacious start. Yet, thrillingly, the band never look back. ‘The None of One’ is an unashamed slice of glacial beauty and ‘Everybody Knows It’s True’ highlights the band at their most playfully inventive.

Plus, in ‘Goodnight Arrow’, The Phantom Band create the year’s most massively OTT epic.

A thrilling band on the cusp of greatness.
8/10