Phantogram (band)

The band in 2010

Carter and Barthel have been friends since preschool. In mid-2007, Barthel returned home dissatisfied with pursuing a visual arts degree at Champlain College in Vermont, and Carter returned home after a brief stint in New York City with Grand Habit, an experimental band formed with his older brother, John. The two friends reunited and worked on finishing some of Carter's earlier songwriting ideas, then finally formed the band.[11][12] They played some live shows, but decided to focus the bulk of their energies on making records.

The duo was originally called Charlie Everywhere and used that name to perform around the Saratoga Springs, New York area and to release two EPs on local label Sub-Bombin Records.[11] Upon signing with UK label Barely Breaking Even on January 26, 2009, they changed their name to Phantogram.[13][14][15] Carter suggested the name Phantogram when the band wanted to switch from Charlie Everywhere to "something [they] liked". Upon looking up phantogram, they found that it referred to an optical illusion in which two-dimensional images appear to be three-dimensional, and noted parallels between this meaning and their band and music.[16]

Phantogram's eponymous debut EP was self-released on the CE Records label on May 12, 2009,[17] followed in the same year by another EP, Running From the Cops, issued on BBE. They signed with Barsuk Records in October 2009,[18] after encouragement from Erich Cannon of Portland's Spectre Entertainment, who contacted them after he heard songs on their MySpace page. "We were going to write the record, finish it, and release it as a demo for upstate," explained Barthel. "Then our plan was to move down to New York [City] to do the whole networking and meeting people kind of stuff. And we kind of skipped that whole thing, just because of the internet."[19]

Phantogram onstage in 2010

Phantogram released their debut album, Eyelid Movies, on September 15, 2009 on BBE (Europe) and Indica Records (Canada), and on February 9, 2010 on Barsuk (US). The album received generally favorable reviews.[20] The album included three singles: "Mouthful of Diamonds", "When I'm Small" and "As Far As I Can See".

The Nightlife EP was released on November 1, 2011. It included the single "Don't Move".

Phantogram onstage in 2014

The duo collaborated with Big Boi from OutKast on three songs ("Objectum Sexuality", "CPU" and "Lines") from his second studio album, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors, released in December 2012, and were credited as producers for the song "Objectum Sexuality". Phantogram were also featured on the Flaming Lips song "You Lust" from their 2013 album The Terror.

On September 30, 2013, Republic Records released the Phantogram EP,[21] along with the single "Black Out Days". The band's second studio album, Voices, was released on February 18, 2014 by Barsuk/Republic. It included the singles "Bill Murray", 'Fall in Love" and "Nothing But Trouble".

In 2015, the band contributed the song "K.Y.S.A" to the Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack; the track appeared in "The Lab" radio station and was also included on the digital and physical versions of the Welcome to Los Santos album. The same year, Phantogram collaborated with Big Boi again, resulting in the seven-song EP Big Grams, released on September 25, 2015 by Epic Records. The EP featured production work from Big Boi, Phantogram, 9th Wonder and Skrillex. Barthel also guest appeared on the Miley Cyrus song "Slab of Butter (Scorpion)" from her album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz.

The band's third album, Three, was released October 7, 2016 by Republic. It debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard' Top Album Sales chart and No. 9 on the Billboard 200. It included the singles "You Don't Get Me High Anymore", "Run Run Blood", "Cruel World" and "Same Old Blues".

On May 18, 2018, the band released the single "Someday", backed by a cover of Sparklehorse's "Saturday"; all proceeds from the single were earmarked for donation to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Phantogram have played and toured with the Antlers, Beach House, Metric, Minus the Bear, Caribou, Zero 7, the xx, Ra Ra Riot, School of Seven Bells, Yeasayer, Brazilian Girls, Future Islands and the Glitch Mob. They opened for M83 at the Hollywood Bowl on September 22, 2013. In 2015, Phantogram opened for Alt-J at Madison Square Garden and toured the West Coast with Muse in December 2015 and again during the European leg of the Drones World Tour in April 2016.

Phantogram have played several major North American festivals including Austin City Limits, Osheaga, Coachella, Free Press Summer Fest, Sasquatch!, Bonnaroo, Treasure Island, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, LouFest, Bumbershoot, Summerfest and Firefly.

In 2010, they enlisted drummer Tim Oakley, formerly of the Mathematicians (where he played under the name Albert Gorithm IV), for their tour.[22] In 2013, the band added guitarist/synth player Nicholas Shelestak to the touring band, while Chris Carhart took over on drums.[23]

Phantogram were announced to perform at the summer 2017 WayHome Music & Arts Festival in Oro-Medonte, Ontario.[24]

Phantogram appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2011 and 2013; on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2014; on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 16, 2016; on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on October 6, 2016; and again on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on December 12, 2016.

Phantogram performed "You Don't Get Me High Anymore" in episode 9 of the Showtime series Roadies, which aired August 21, 2016.

• "When I'm Small" was featured in the opening episode of MTV's adaption of Skins, the trailer of the 2013 film Syrup, Canon's advertisement for the 650D camera, a Gillette commercial for the Fusion ProGlide razor featuring Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews, a Trane commercial in 2017, the end credits of the "Derailed" episode of the fourth season of the USA Network TV series Suits,[25] and the soundtracks for the films The Edge of Seventeen (2016), Breaking the Girls (2013) and Innocence (2013).[26] The song was sampled in a viral YouTube video featuring rapper Infidelix and singer Elland-M [27]
• "Mouthful of Diamonds" appeared in the same American adaptation of Skins in the episode "Stanley",[28] and was featured in the films Attack of La Niña (2011) and Breaking the Girls (2013).
• "Don't Move" was featured in the 2012 film Pitch Perfect and the CW's adaptation of The Secret Circle.
• "A Dark Tunnel" appeared in the 2013 sci-fi film Point B.[29]
• "Turn It Off" was featured in the first episode of MTV's adaptation of Teen Wolf.
• "Black Out Days" was featured in the "Frame by Frame" episode of CBS series CSI: Las Vegas on October 23, 2013,[30] the "Strangers on a Train" episode of Showtime's Shameless on February 2, 2014,[31] at the end of The Magicians episode "Impractical Applications" on February 22, 2016 and in the sixth episode of The Originals.. The song was also featured in a 2017 trailer for the Hulu show Harlots.
• "Fall in Love" was used in the episode "Suicide Squad" from season 2 of the show Arrow in 2014.
• "Heart of Gold" was covered by Barthel (credited as Demarest) for the 2013 film Out of the Furnace.
• "Lights" appeared on the deluxe edition of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, released on November 19, 2013.
• "K.Y.S.A" was featured in Welcome to Los Santos from Grand Theft Auto V and in the "Running, Man!" promo for the Grand Theft Auto PC editor feature on April 13, 2015.[32]
• "Same Old Blues" was featured in EA Sports video game FIFA 17 and in Peloton TV ads.
• "You Don't Get Me High Anymore" was covered by rock band Three Days Grace, and later by pop singer Billie Eilish. The song was later used in the episode "A Simple Man" from the show Conviction in its one and only season, in the season 5 premiere of The Originals, in the opening of the twelfth episode of The Resident, and in the seventh episode of the first season of Goliath.
• "Fell in the Sun" (as Big Grams with Big Boi) was featured in Sony Interactive Entertainment video game MLB The Show 16.
• "You're Mine" was featured in an advertisement[33] for Apple's HomePod. In 2017 this song was also used in the episode "The Family Way" from the second season of The Catch.

• Sarah Barthel – vocals, keyboards, piano, programming, synthesizers, guitars, production (2007–present)
• Josh Carter – vocals, guitars, programming, synthesizers, drums, percussion, production (2007–present)

• Official website