Brightest Young Things

words by Phelps

photos by Doron Gild

Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter have pounded the pavement hard over the last year as they fine-tuned the live nuances of the tracks on their recently released LP Eyelid Movies. Opening first for the Pomegranates and more recently the School of 7 Bells, they’ve finally embarked upon a headlining tour and bring their ethereal sound to DC9 tonight. Barthel’s breezy vocals over gritty synths and Carter’s fuzzed out guitar project a powerful pop sound that bumps much louder than you’d expect from a duo not manning turntables. We caught up with just before their second of two sold out New York shows last week and on the heels of a four-star Spin review and rising Metacritic score. DC9 has a penchant for being a step ahead of the game and tonight is no different – see these guys in the intimate setting while you still can.

BYT: Hi, is this Josh?
Josh: Uh Yea…

BYT: Hi, this is Josh too, calling from Brightest Young Things in DC…
Josh: Oh, how are you man? Thanks for calling.

BYT: No problem, thanks for being available, I know you guys are busy.
Josh: Oh, yea, but we’ve got some time.

BYT: That’s ok. Congrats on the sold out show tonight.
Josh: Thank you, we’re excited. Last night’s show sold out as well.

BYT: That was in Boston?
Josh: That was in Brooklyn, so we’re doing two New York shows in a row.

BYT: Ah, nice. You guys still live upstate or do you make Brooklyn or Manhattan your home now?
Josh: We still live upstate, in Saratoga Springs, but we’re actually gonna move out as soon as this tour’s over because we’re always paying rent for a place we’re never at, cause we’re always on tour. We’re just gonna move out, keep touring, and crash at people’s places when we don’t have shows.

BYT: You’ve been on the road constantly with bands like the Pomegranates and School of 7 Bells, and now finally on your own; how is it so far as headliners?
Josh: Well, it’s been pretty good. We did four dates with Minus the Bear and right after that we started the headline tour. We’re only 3 days into it but it’s going really good so far. It’s exciting that we sold out New York two nights in a row… It’s cool to have people come out just for us and not being the opening act.

BYT: There was a good reaction after CMJ, and I’m sure the fan base has been built with all the touring but with all the recent positive press, have you found that’s also bumping up the attendance or people have seen you before?
Josh: To be honest, I’m not really even sure. I haven’t read much of the press because I’m trying not to, just because of the psychological effect it could have on me. I think it’s probably a combination of touring and the press. We’re still a pretty relatively unknown band but we’re trying to spread the word and we appreciate things like this, you doing an interview with us. Definitely helps us out.

BYT: With the album out in the UK first, was that because you didn’t have a US label yet, or you’d toured Europe first?
Josh: We were still kinda looking at labels in the US, talking to a few, negotiating. We ended up loving everybody at Barsuk Records and we have a real mutual respect goin on with those guys, they’re all really awesome people. Barsuk wanted to put out our record and were all pretty excited about it so we signed to them in October. Also, a label called Ghostly International is putting out our vinyl which is really cool too.

BYT: You’ll have that at the show?
Josh: Yea, we’ll have it at our show in DC. We’re pretty pumped.

BYT: I’ve read a little about your influences, the two of you, and some of the hip hop stuff. We had a chance to interview Raekwon a few months ago…
Josh: Wow, that’s crazy!

BYT: Yea it was wild. He released the sequel to Cuban Linx this year, it was cool to see people still into what he’s doin…
Josh: I know, I know! I heard it, it sounded pretty cool.

BYT: With your interest in hip hop, would you say both of you guys are influenced similarly, or do you have two distinctly discernable styles that you meld when you write together? How does that all work itself out?
Josh: I don’t know, it’s kind of weird. Honestly, we both listen to all kinds of music. We’re not hip hop junkies, we’re not indie rock junkies, or shoegaze junkies, or any kind… we just kind of like all music and I guess a lot of our bigger inspirations as far as the hip hop side are people like Madlib, 9th Wonder, stuff like that… who just bring together abstract soul sampling. We also try to listen to as much music as we can, be it classical, avant-garde, just all kinds. Then we just take elements of the music we like.

BYT: Last time you were here, you set up some lights in the background, and Sarah is into the visual arts. Is this something you’ve built upon, will we be seeing something similar or some progression now that you’re on a headline tour?
Josh: It’s something that we’re still working on because we don’t really have a high budget to work with, per se (laughing,) but a friend of ours named Blaire Neal did some video projections that we have with us for this headline tour. So, we’re gonna set up a projector and screen behind us and it should look pretty cool with our stuff. Basically, in the future we plan on working on a lot of visual elements to accompany the music, to give it an overall cool aesthetic.

BYT: Well is it alright if we stream a song or two for people to listen to on the site?
Josh: Oh yea, that’d be totally cool, just email us so we can cover it with our management first.

BYT: Sure, don’t wanna step on any toes.
Josh: That’s awesome of you to feature us. We really, really, REALLY appreciate it. Thank you so much, and once again just email the management and we’ll make sure we get a song up for ya as well.

BYT: Great, Josh, thanks, we’ll see you at the show.
Josh: Great, sounds awesome. Thanks again Josh.

BYT: Have fun tonight.
Josh: I will, also Sarah says hello.

BYT: Oh, OK thanks, hi Sarah!
Josh: Cheers, bye!

BYT: Alright, take care.

Want more:
Check out Phantogram on twitter here and stop by DC9 tonight