Hot on the heels of his recent No Bells On Sunday EP, Mark Lanegan returns with band in tow for the ‘official’ follow-up to his brilliant 2012 album, Blues Funeral. His ninth full-length solo album, entitled Phantom Radio, follows the more experimental direction he has been exploring on recent ventures, by fully embracing the shimmering synths and electronic beats that infiltrated his most recent EP and stellar Blues Funeral cut, ‘Ode to Sad Disco’. Long-time fans of Lanegan’s stripped back bluesy ballads and acoustical flavours that form the bulk of his solo work, or the grittier dark rock style featured prominently on Bubblegum and Blues Funeral may be taken aback by this brave new chapter in the illustrious, although criminally underrated career of the grizzled drifter.
However, Lanegan’s multiple guest spots and diverse collaborations has for many years showcased his flexibility as an artist with a surprisingly versatile range of influences covering a wide palette of sounds and genres. Interestingly, Lanegan wrote most of the tunes with an app on his phone called Funk Box, where he created beats which would later by embellished with synths and guitar.
Those trademark gloomy tones and brooding atmospherics that come with the territory in Lanegan’s music are coloured by the glittery electronic backdrop, lending the album a surprisingly, and uncharacteristically, brighter counterpoint. Not that Phantom Radio is typically happy feel good music but it certainly contains an upbeat element, not usually associated with Lanegan’s solo output. So while tracks like the Lanegan-by-numbers balladry of ‘Judgement Time’, the darky beauty of ‘I Am the Wolf’ and slow burning ‘The Wild People’ represent Lanegan’s reliably solid and trademark song-writing elements, it’s within the livelier songs embedded with a vibrant electro pulse that Phantom Radio shines the brightest.
Opener ‘Harvest Home’ kicks things off strongly, with Lanegan at his downbeat and poetic best lyrically, atop a dark synth-laden rock groove. The dreamily buoyant slice of electro-pop featured on the excellent ‘Floor of the Ocean’ nails a beautiful contrast between Lanegan’s smooth baritone and the electronic direction he has increasingly ramped up for this album. Overall his voice meshes particularly well with the electronic backdrop, a combination that has worked a treat on previously successful collaborative work with the likes of Bomb the Bass, Soulsavers and Moby.
Of course it’s Lanegan’s knack for crafting emotionally deep and deceptively catchy songs that resonates so strongly here. Songs like ‘The Killing Season’, with its catchy beats and moody atmospherics, and closing number ‘Death Trip to Tulsa’ are prime examples of how well Lanegan’s traditional song-writing traits blend with the darkly upbeat electronic influence. On the downside, the few middle-of-the-road tracks breed some inconsistency into the album, but it’s largely nullified by the numerous highlights on offer.
Despite the intriguing song-writing twists and successful integration of more electronics into Lanegan’s solo repertoire, Phantom Radio feels more like a transitional album that lacks the consistency and high points of his previous Blues Funeral release. Nevertheless there are plenty of gems to be found here, and I’m very much looking forward to where Lanegan goes with this change in direction. Chalk Phantom Radio up as another rock solid, occasionally great addition to Lanegan’s commanding body of work.
8/10
Reviewer: Luke Saunders