The Phoids

Album review

For their third full-length release, the Phoids hooked up with producer Niko Bolas, who helped the NYC band obtain a more classic rock sound without losing their unpredictable edge. The band decided to try a different approach than usual, and chose to record the album in a rural recording studio in Massachusetts (Long View Farm Studios). By incorporating for the first time such sounds as a children's choir, the Memphis Horns, mellotron, Hammond B-3 organ, piano, varied percussion, slide guitar, and trombone, it appears as though the band is maturing musically and expanding their songwriting. This is especially evident in the pretty acoustic love song "Rosemarie" and the mid-paced country rock of "So Long." And whereas on an older album they would have replaced the prominent horn section on "Killer" with electric guitars, here it is allowed to groove and breathe on its own. The muffled chromatic guitar riff of "I Never Worry" is one of their all-time best, and "Spark on the Horizon" sounds almost like a long-lost Lynyrd Skynyrd gem.
© Greg Prato /TiVo