Phantom Wave

In their debut studio album, titled Wilds, Phantom Wave make no attempt to conceal with their primary objective as an act is, and it all centers on reviving guitar heroics for a generation that needs a little more than conventional virtuosity to get excited. The cerebral Wilds is defined by its abstract fusions with familiar pop cosmetics, giving us songs like “Recursive,” “Anterograde” and “High Dive” both straightforward and sophisticatedly oddball the same. Though it often plays out rather eclectically, this could be the greatest charm that Phantom Wave’s rookie release has going for it this season, especially considering what the other big-name records out right now have to offer.

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/PhantomWaveNYC/

The tonal muscularity in “Glower,” “Amarinthine,” “Resin” and “Everglades” is unmatched for what I’ve been listening to lately, and outside of the heavier metal and drone acts experimenting along the lines of shoegaze-type influences, I don’t know that you’re going to find anything like it anywhere else. Phantom Wave have filled a void that has been relatively empty for the better part of the last decade here, and best of all, they aren’t being the least bit pretentious about their efforts – nor are the recycling anything from their forerunners.

“Billows,” the aforementioned “Resin,” “Valhalla” and “Across the Avenues” really make me want to see this band live at some point, and if they’re able to bring even a small fraction of the presence they’ve got in the studio for any of these four songs, I think they’re going to quickly become one of the more heavily-praised indie greenhorn acts to hit the stage upon a collective return to live music. Though it’s difficult to gauge the precise moment in time in which we’ll be able to see this crew in concert, there’s no denying that what they’ve done with Wilds acts as a good teaser for what’s still to come.

Overall, I would have to say that the way the material has been arranged in this tracklist allows for us to press the play button at “Anterograde,” sit back and simply enjoy what comes slipping through the ethers in the next eleven songs that follow, but I think Wilds is best enjoyed in a playlist of likeminded neo-psychedelia and post-punk revival. This is an album that already has moments of feeling like a mixer, and whether cherry-picked or enjoyed from start to finish on its own, its impact is often the same either way.

BANDCAMP: https://phantomwaveband.bandcamp.com/track/anterograde

I’ve been listening to a lot of really intriguing new rock music to come out of the woodwork in the last couple of years, but I don’t think there’s another album quite like Wilds currently available online or in-stores in this March worthy of taking some time out to spend with its music. Phantom Wave don’t hold anything back here, and if they do, I can’t imagine the kind of damage they do if given the proper venue to really do whatever they wanted. Honestly, I won’t be shocked if this band finds success quicker than their contemporaries at all simply because of the drive they employed in making an LP like this. - VENTS Magazine

Flooding the speakers in a deluge of harmonies in “Valhalla.” Quietly stabbing away at the frail bones of silence in “High Dive” with a melodic pulsation as rich as a tropical sunset. Pushing us the edge of our seats with psychedelic subtleties more aligned with Bob Mould than Jerry Garcia in “Recursive” while sticking to a recipe for rhythmic pleasure all too bleached to have been cut from the same cloth in “Sweet Cheera” – or so we think, at least.

There are indulgences abound in “Depth Charge,” but they’re somehow being presented to us with the same soft efficiencies a raucous “Glower” would be built atop. From the solemn gaze of “Everglades” to the smash n’ bash charisma of “Across the Avenues,” it can be said that Phantom Wave are an uncaged beast in their official debut album Wilds, which not only lives up to its title but unrepentantly raises the standard for other alternative, noise and punk bands looking to compete in the tight hard rock market still remaining in our modern times. This is a unit that isn’t interested in playing games or forming scenes, and if they are, their music is too loud for me to tell.

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If it’s possible for a group to be conceptual while keeping all of the unnecessary fat off the plate (and really omitted from the table entirely), Phantom Wave might have found the proper formula in tracks like “Amarinthine” and “Recursive.” There’s a progressive aesthetic to this material that comes to us free of camp entirely, which leaves me to question whether deeming it prog-influenced in the first place is even proper. There’s so much melodicism in the likes of “Sweet Cheera” and “Resin” that trying to reconcile their decadent dispositions with that of the intense violence featured in the instrumentation of “Anterograde” and “Across the Avenues” is, essentially, next to impossible.

The lyrics we hear in this LP acquire their immense weight from the context in which they’re presented (“Glower,” “Everglades,” “Depth Charge”) as opposed to tone. All of these otherwise simple but artistically rebellious features add up to one undisputedly brilliant listening experience for anyone playing Wilds, and particularly those who give the album a proper spin from beginning to end without any external interruptions.

I had never heard of Phantom Wave before I got into their rookie LP, but I think it’s fair to suggest them as a potential heir to the throne of Dinosaur Jr. after hearing the fabulous collection of songs and bruising displays of sonic strength in the album Wilds this March. Alternative music took a strange but expected beating in 2020 thanks to a devastating summer and autumn for the live music circuit, but it would appear that nothing is going to slow down this band when it comes to establishing themselves when and where it matters the most at the moment. I’ll be sticking around for more of their work, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t the last time they garnered headlines with their output. - Indie Band Guru

There aren’t many indie rock purists around in the trenches anymore, but this could be the very reason why a band like Phantom Wave sounds as refreshing as they do in their debut album Wilds, due out this March everywhere alternative music is sold and streamed. In Wilds, Phantom Wave channel the ethos of past legends of left side of the dial while playing to a postmodern template completely inaccessible to the average listener just ten years ago, and while they clearly take their influence from a broad array of artists, theirs is one of the more cohesive sounds I’ve had the opportunity to hear lately.

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/phantomwaveband/?hl=en

Wilds is an album that makes us want to turn the volume knob ever higher in hopes of better appreciating all of the rich texture and tonality its master mix and instrumentation has to offer, but songs like “Glower,” “Amarinthine,” “Depth Charge” and “Sweet Cheera” never celebrate the bombast of noise pop for the sake of being louder than anything else around in 2021. On the contrary, I would say there’s a very deliberate use of intensity in this record that alludes to a greater command of sonic poetry than one might expect out of such a relatively unknown pairing early on in their career together.



“Everglades,” “Resin,” “Anterograde,” “Across the Avenues” and “Valhalla” sport some striking physicality that does a lot to advance the narrative here and, more importantly, the emotion driving it. I like that Phantom Wave are seemingly going out of their way to ensure natural elements are enhancing the creative spirit of the material and not some sort of synthetic accent, which I feel would have only come between the artists and the audience they’re looking to tell their story to in Wilds. It’s not an outright progressive LP, but there’s absolutely a concept in play throughout these songs.

I really love the grit of the strings in “Billows,” “High Dive,” “Recursive” and “Depth Charge,” and if you ask me the definition of the guitar parts in this album might have been enough to serve as a centerpiece all on their own. The fact is, when you’re working with the intricacies that Phantom Wave are in their performances here, you don’t have to be elaborate with the lyricism nor the production quality found elsewhere in the LP. Being how stellar every part of Wilds is from beginning to end, I think the detail is all the more a testament to their collective skillset.



Let there be no need for debate in 2021 – Phantom Wave’s Wilds is the best debut of the year so far, and it’s going to take a lot of melodic moxie on the part of their rivals to produce anything quite as good as this piece. Aside from there being enough artistic appeal to make even the most undistinguished of critics feel enthralled by what they’re hearing, this is an album that wants us to unwind and let our guards down as its creators have. That alone is an inspiring result of courageous experimentation, and I doubt I’ll be the only critic to say so. - IndieShark

When it comes to reflecting on the high octane, shoegaze dreamy meets blistering/relentlessly cool electric guitar fired Brooklyn based rockers Phantom Wave, it’s hard to top the colorful description fashioned by Ian Carpenter (guitar, vocals) and drummer Rachel Fischer – who trimmed down from the quartet that recorded their 2018 debut EP Sixer to a hard slammin’ hypnotic duo for their full-length debut Wilds. “Phantom Wave,” they say, “lives in the difference between propulsive drive and radiant fluidity.”


We can surely add a few more descriptors to the mix – let’s try “steamrolling wall of hipster sonic insanity,” “moody jangling that explodes into a mind-bending sonic intricacies and production pyrotechnics,” for starters - as we immerse in any number of these 12 infectious and spirited ear-piercing gems. To focus on their most recent lead singles, there’s the trippy, ongoing breakneck shift between dreamy atmospheric sweetness to a crunchy wall of fuzz and distortion on “Billows” – and the scorching wall of ambience and electrifying crackle of “Glower,” whose occasional mellower bars allow a momentary seduction into the sultry 80 synth band charms of Carpenter’s vocals.


Buried a bit in the intense mix, their lyrics are pretty much open to the listener’s groovy interpretation, but a few key phrases from these two tracks stand out as kind of summing up where the musical road leads us: “Sometimes flying you are/Castaway stars. . .and how what you doing?” (“Billows”) and “The sky shielding/Hours reeling/Days are winning/Different ways to live. . .Throw the curtain down/Shake the ground/Feel the sun again…” (“Glower”). Carpenter’s repetition in the latter song of “Let’s talk about it” feels like an open invitation to dig deeper into Phantom Wave’s messaging and expansive vibe. Choosing titles like “Anterograde” and “Amerinthine” which prompt us to Google is a good indication that they want us to get lost in the music, and if we feel so whimsically inclined, go deeper once we’re hooked.


While Carpenter and Fischer (a psychiatrist by trade) are super talented, multi-faceted musicians and dedicated artists, their bios let us know that they don’t want us to take them too seriously: “While releasing this album, they continue to work on writing new music, wearing face masks and eating burritos (not at the same time).” We also learn that on days before her med school exams, Fischer played shows in a Lower East Side squat house and that Carpenter “is currently curling up for these long winter nights with a guitar and goat stew in hand.” Imagine the fun they’ll start having when they can get out and play live again! - The JW Vibe

Phantom Wave are a Brooklyn-based shoegaze outfit which seems to be managing the dynamic interplay between animated drive and dazzling elegance pretty well, fusing elements from the vanguard of shoegaze, dreampop, and psychedelia, and bringing forward a melodic and vibrant sound.

First Light, the lead single from their forthcoming album, Bonfire Secrets, epitomizes the band's nostalgic approach, as well as their knack for fuzz. With depth, sentimentality, and a penchant for experimentation in dynamic shifts and textures, Phantom Wave deliver a competent and contemporary take on shoegaze.

Rooted in the present, the band's music consistently embraces a forward-looking standard, ensuring an engaging trip as they explore the atmospheric realms they create.

Bonfire Secrets is set to release in April 2024. - Destroy // Exist