Phantom Buffalo

Hailing from the rocky shores of America's elder Portland (Maine), psychedelic songsmiths Phantom Buffalo began their career in 1998 as the Ponys, a name they used until 2004 when a dispute with the Chicago post-punk group of the same name caused them to rechristen themselves. Led by dueling singer/guitarists Jonathan Balzano-Brookes and Tim Burns along with fellow guitarist Philip Willey, bassist Sean Newton, and drummer Joe Domrad, the group eventually released its debut, Shishimumu, in 2002 on regional indie Time-Lag Records. The album's heady mix of Moog-laden psych drones, Byrdsian twang, and literate indie pop found its way across the Atlantic and caught the attention of Britain's Rough Trade Records, which reissued the record in 2005 under the band's new name. An EP and second full-length called Take to the Trees followed in 2007 on Time-Lag as the band delved deeper into its evolving world of obscure melodic pop songs about animals, quirky characters, and science fiction. Musically, Phantom Buffalo occupy a place not dissimilar from retro-'60s surrealists like Of Montreal, the Essex Green, and others in the Elephant 6 Collective mold and indeed have shared the stage with several of those acts. Their penchant for experimental guitar pop reached its zenith on 2010's Cement Postcards with Owl Colours, released by French indie Microcultures. Intimate in tone but broad in scope, the album was recorded mostly live in a mere 18 hours and is their most fully realized collection to date. In 2012 Phantom Buffalo embarked on an even more ambitious project, one that, in retrospect, they seemed headed for all along. Their fourth release, a concept album called Tadaloora, features a set of colorful vignettes set in a mythical world of the same name and was promoted alongside an animated video adventure game developed by the band.
© Timothy Monger /TiVo