Phony - Good Times. Silent Place EP

by Laura Branch

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Firestation Tower
Format: CDS

My attention was drawn to Phony because their drummer is in Le Hammond Inferno. Do not, however, be fooled by this – Phony are not in the least bit like Le Hammond Inferno. They have their own idenit

Review

My attention was drawn to Phony because their drummer is in Le Hammond Inferno. Do not, however, be fooled by this – Phony are not in the least bit like Le Hammond Inferno. They have their own idenity as yet another guitar strumming, happily mournful, indie pop band. The opening track 'Good Times' has quite a sleek sound – plenty of keyboards and organs, guitars which aren’t overly jangly, and inoffensive boyish vocals. This sounds like the formula for a damn fine pop song, but I’m not quite sure it works. I get that slight feeling of having heard it all before, or perhaps I’m just bitter at the fact that they aren’t at all like LHI… 'Long Away' sees Phony return to this tried and tested indie formula but with a louder and sleeker approach. Still nothing amazing though. That, however, is not to say that Phony are entirely without merit. Far from it. Sandwiched in between this fairly run of the mill indie pop is a fresh sounding slice of bossa nova in the form of 'Silent Place' with smooth, exotic yet funky vocals provided by Virginie Haddadene. When I first heard this track, I honestly thought it was a different band. So although Phony seem to favour their guise as gentle guitar driven popsters, they certainly seem to have the potential for diversity. If you like your pop songs three minutes long, with a bit of a sixties tinge to them and the odd unexpected blast of Latin pop then you could do far worse than listen to Phony.