Phantogram @ Zoom Club, Frankfurt

20140714_223122Browsing this year’s album releases, a rock duo called Phantogram caught my attention. The band’s name got me excited. It describes an optical illusion creating the impression of three-dimensionality on a flat surface. If this group could produce similar effects by using sound, their stuff had to be good. That turned out to be the case. Piercing spherical sounds and beautiful melodies with swirling guitar rhythms, drumbeats, and electronic effects, Phantogram’s music achieves a spatial quality that is highly addictive. Their songs make your mind drift into another dimension even though you aren’t on pot.

20140714_224408

I was psyched when learning that Phantogram would perform at Frankfurt’s Zoom Club on July 14. This place provided the perfect location. Even though it is a young venue, it has a long track record of pushing conventions. The history of this nightspot goes back as far as 1971. During that time most Germans listened to folk music and Wagner operas considering everything that came from the US perverted and degenerate. Young people longing for sex, drugs, and good music had few places to go. This changed when students established a small Jazz venue called Sinkkasten Arts Club (“Gully Hole Arts Club”) that soon earned reputation for hosting titans such as Chet Baker, Art Blakey, and Charles Mingus. Opening post-Nazi Germany for Western culture, it became a landmark institution that has offered great entertainment for 40 years. The Sinkkasten went bankrupt in 2011, changed ownership, and reopened as the Zoom. Until today, the club is fraught with an atmosphere of freedom, creativity, and individualism that keeps the spirit of turning away from outdated traditions alive.

20140714_224421

Before Phantogram played a local band called Newmen took the stage. Opening with a long and monotonous intro, these five guys puzzled the audience. Nobody seemed to understand what they were doing. A nice melody filled the air but it kept repeating itself over and over again with only slight variations. But then, all of a sudden, the sound dissolved into an orgy of electronic effects, bizarre noises, and futuristic sounds. Fuck, this was awesome! They continued with a more conventional set of New Wave-esque rock songs that made the audience swing along, and beautifully prepared the stage for Phantogram.

20140714_221124

That the concert turned into a great party when Phantogram entered the stage came as a surprise to me. Their songs are filled with a dark atmosphere of loneliness and longing that did not strike me as the best soundtrack for having a good time. The fans taught me otherwise. People were dancing, clapping, and turning while Sarah Barthel’s beautiful voice sang lines like: “Love, it cut a hole into your eyes/ You couldn’t see you were the car I crashed/ Now you’re burning alive.”

20140714_230001

But not only the audience enjoyed the concert. The excitement came from the stage and flashed over on everybody else. While Josh Carter seemed to be completely absorbed by the music, slightly rocking back and forth while playing the guitar, operating a drum machine, or standing behind the microphone, Sarah Barthel gracefully outdanced the audience. Her presence on stage had something fantastic, and it is hard to say whether this was an effect of the way she moved or of her voice oscillating from levitating melodies to yelling the lyrics.

20140714_223128

I can honestly say that I never experienced that much enthusiasm, joy, and excitement for music that is supposed to make me feel sad. Or is it? I don’t know anymore. What I can tell is that I sensed a hint of melancholy when Sarah Barthels whispered into the microphone: “I’ve got the feeling we’re gonna die.” I knew that this line was going to be her last. The show could not have ended otherwise: psychedelic sounds pumped up the audience one last time, the band said goodbye, the lights went on, and everything went back to normal. Like an optical illusion the band disappeared into nothing as if it had never been there. Maybe it was all just a dream.

Phantogram are Sarah Barthel (vocals, keyboard) & Josh Carter (vocals, guitar). More about the band on their official site.