Phantom Planet

Phantom Planet is still trying to find their identity. After two moderately successful albums of melancholy, California pop rock, Phantom Planet has taken a cue from some of their East Coast counterparts and released a self-titled LP of straightforward, guitar driven rock. Offering their best Strokes imitation, Phantom Planet has concocted a solid post-punk/post-grunge album that becomes more engaging upon each listen.

In spite of being known best for having a famous thespian as their drummer or for providing the theme music to Fox’s teeny-drama The O.C., Phantom Planet has come into their own with their current release. Jason Schwartzman is gone, having left midway through the album’s recording to pursue acting fulltime, and is replaced by Jeff Conrad, who does a more than adequate job as the bands new beat keeper. But Phantom Planet has never let itself be defined by Schwartzman’s split career, anyways, and his absence seems to have helped the band to cement a more concrete identity.

With the help of producer David Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), the band’s new incarnation is edgier and grungier, a closer cousin of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club than Rooney or Maroon 5. Alexander Greenwald’s quirky vocal melodies have evolved with out abandoning the style of his earlier music, making a listener wonder if he gave Fridmann The Strokes’ This Is It, and asked “Can you make us sound like this and still sound like ourselves?.”

If Phantom Planet is seriously dedicated to being a real rock band and not just a quirky pop ensemble, then this release is a good start. Songs such as “The Happy Ending” and “Making a Killing” are catchy enough to be radio singles while preserving a harder rock edge. However, they need to avoid being lulled into overproduction and resist abusing the drum machine and horns like they did in songs such as “Big Brat,” “You’re Not Welcome Here” and “Knowitall.” These extras sound are out of place and tend to mar part of the album.

It’s apparent from this release that Phantom Planet is trying to fit in with the latest breed of rock bands to generate the hype and buzz of the cool media, and for the most part it seems to have worked well. But it remains to be seen whether they have found a musical niche or rather just the ability to morph into whatever the music media defines as the hot new flavor.

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