Have a quick look through some of the artists that this band shared a stage with recently or generally attracted the attention of and you’ll notice the likes of Bonobo, SOHN and The xx. They’ve even been described already as “the Finnish Portishead”. That should be enough to make you hit play with a certain degree of confidence and from there on in you’ll be handsomely rewarded for giving Phantom you’re undivided attention. ‘Shadows’ is an astonishingly deep and enchanting listen – it sits comfortably within the aforementioned names yet crucially has enough to say for itself and doesn’t tread on the toes of any of them.
As a duo, singer Hanna Toivonen and beat-maker Tommi Koskinen have been crafting brooding, jazz-inflected trip-hop for a couple of years now and it’s worth looking to their first release “Scars” if you’re not already familiar. It’s perhaps a less developed track overall but the achingly soulful vocal more than hints at the potential breadth of any forthcoming EP/LP and is clearly a huge asset to their live performance.
“Shadows” is available now from VILD Recordings. Reviewed by Nathan Hetherington
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Reviewed by b3
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