Along with childhood friend keyboardist/vocalist Yos Munro and guitarist Jesse Newkirk IV, drummer/vocalist Aaron Harris, formerly of the eccentric indie rock band Islands, craft sparse and magnetic rock songs with new wave and avant-indie flourishes under the Steel Phantoms moniker. The trio delivered a delightful second EP, "Forer," after fundraising it via Kickstarter. Evocative of The Magnetic Fields' timeless melodies immersed in a more modern, electric and percussive musical context, the record is named after psychologist Bertram Forer, who developed a theory according to which "normal" people are more likely to believe positive things about themselves rather than negative ones (we couldn't agree more, considering how stunning we are!) In an interview with BlackBook, Harris said that the songs that he wrote on “Forer” explored his fears and lack of confidence. Interestingly enough, a very confident record came out of this, and regardless of the EP's introspective content, the band assuredly presents six diverse songs that stand on their own right but also maintain a cohesive balance. The "Forer" EP is available as a free download on Steel Phantoms’ site steelphantomsband.com. See the band play with two other Deli favorites Slowdance and Papertwin for a modest cover of $5 at Union Pool on Thursday, December 1. Coincidentially, Steel Phantoms and Papertwin are currently competing for our Artist of the Month poll. - Nancy Chow
We've always been big fans of Luke Temple, and it's good to see that, together with the Here We Go Magic crew, the man is keeping at it with increasingly beautiful records and videos. The band's new album "A Different Ship" (stream it here) will be out on May 8, and betrays at least a partial return to Luke Temple's more intimate and melodic sound from his solo repertoire - in this regard, lend a ear to "Hard to Be Close," "Alone but Moving" and "Over the Ocean". This is welcome news for fans like us who always thought that in most HWGM material Luke's noteworthy songwriting skills seemed a little sacrificed on the altar of textural experimentation. This doesn't mean that the band's signature hypnotic, impressionistic sound is lost - it's just that these two elements work together better than they did in past records, and this is what makes this album one of the NYC highlights of the year so far. Indeed, this collection also features songs more in line with the band's past releases ("Make Up your Mind", "I Believe in Action"), which follow on the steps of brainy-pop icons like Brian Eno and The Feelies, but there's definitely a balance here, also betrayed by the almost perfect alternation of melodic songs and less traditional ones.The just released video of "How Do I Know," telling the story of a rejected dancing robot that ends up revitalizing an older man's appreciation for life, seems to reflect on this brain/heart, mechanic/organic dichotomies and somehow bring them to unity. - PDG
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