It’s easy to ‘Fall in Love’ with these visionaries
RURAL BEGINNINGS: Hearing Phantogram’s experimental pop — a blend of gritty beats and ethereal melodies — you’d imagine the duo working in someone’s living room in Brooklyn, thinking deep, sad thoughts. But they found their sound in a barn-turned-pseudo-studio near Saratoga Springs in Upstate New York. “We were able to craft our music untroubled by outside interference,” says Josh Carter.
DESTINY: Carter and Sarah Barthel, both 31, met in middle school and remained friends through high school. Then Barthel went off to study visual arts at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., and Carter joined his brother’s band, Grand Habit, in New York City. The pals picked up right where they left off when both returned home. “I’d play my stuff for her, and it turns out she was super-good at singing and playing piano,” Carter says. “It was like magic.”
FINALLY, SUCCESS: Single Fall in Love has climbed to No. 5 on USA TODAY’s alternative airplay chart and No. 2 on music-identification service Shazam’s national chart. They’ve played twice on Jimmy Kimmel Live and most recently on The Late Show With David Letterman. They’re set to
perform at Sasquatch! and Firefly. Phantogram also contributed a track ( Lights) to the deluxe version of the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack.
IN THE EARLY DAYS: As with most emerging bands, the members had to juggle day jobs to keep the dream going. “We both waited tables” in touristy Saratoga Springs, Barthel says. “He worked at a restaurant, I worked at a jazz bistro pub. We’d meet up after work, drive to the country, where Josh’s family has a farm, and work on our music.”
LAYERING UP: The duo officially became Phantogram (an optical illusion that makes a twodimensional image look threedimensional) in 2007. “We’ve accomplished a lot since then,” Carter says. “We’ve released two albums. We’ve played for crowds of 50, and now we’re playing Hollywood Palladium.”
THE ROMANCE OF MUSIC: The way the pair approach music reflects their relationship: always evolving. “Fall in Love was a beat I made five years ago, and Sarah dug it out and wrote a very cool melody to it,” Carter says. “She breathed new life into it. That’s how we work.”
PERKS OF SUCCESS: “It’s fun to see the world. It’s a lot more exciting than waiting tables for tourists,” Barthel says. Adds Carter, “Now we’re the tourists.”