Phantoms

Austin’s Ume have received many accolades for their live performances on tour and at SXSW and with due cause: They’re an absolutely thrilling live band. Their first EP, Sunshower, flew under a lot of radars when it was released in 2009. Their debut full-length, Phantoms, attempts to translate their kinetic live act for the home listening experience. “Rubicon” opens the album with a riff that borders on math rock but breaks into vocals that are undeniably pop, with an airy chorus ensconced in reverb. It sets a great pace for the disc. “Destroyer” adds a delightfully wet “How Soon Is Now?”—cranked tremolo to the guitar in parts—while the riffs on “Dancing Blind” tilt more toward the dramatic, powerful, and driving. Lauren Larson’s singing style and dissonant chord progressions have earned Ume comparisons to Sonic Youth; on Phantoms, Built to Spill by way of Don Caballero seems more appropriate from modernoutsider.com: First single "Captive" demonstrates what Ume do best - uniquely combining Lauren's own variation of the most metal of guitar tunings (drop C) with airy and impassioned vocals to produce an uptempo pop anthem. Like the record as a whole, the mesmerizing result alternates between heaviness and weightlessness, and pleads for a triumphant end to the struggles the band faced throughout the album's creation. "We booked time in the studio, the tape-machine broke," Lauren recalls. "We'd spend weeks setting-up tours and every time the van dies at the worst time. We were forced to cancel one show and Thurston Moore shows up to see us. But we won't give up, no matter what ghosts try to stop us." A testament to perseverance, Phantoms is described by Lauren as a collection of unorthodox love songs to the band that pulled her out of a PhD program and to the first boy to hold her by the hand (now Ume's bassist). In the same way, it is also a battle-cry against the ghosts, doubts, and adulthood conventions that would drag the band away from their childhood dreams (Lauren and Eric - once the kids in the front row at the Fugazi concert - have been making music together since Lauren was 15). "Never can they catch us," she delicately sings over the searing fretwork of "Rubicon," showcasing how prog-like complexity can co-exist with a radiant chorus, while "Destroyer" hypnotizes listeners across an arpeggiated dreamscape and beautifully rallies against the destructive tendencies of grown-up pessimism. The haunting final track, "The Task" - the fastest song Lauren ever wrote at a time the band was not sure they could financially and emotionally finish the task of the album - unveils a finger-picked acoustic guitar and spaghetti-western style trumpet, proving that Ume's music is equally compelling whether behind a wall of noise or stripped down. With more than 300 shows under their young belts, including three national tours and gigs with the likes of Arcade Fire, Marnie Stern, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Polvo, The Meat Puppets and Warpaint, Ume has developed a dynamic, awe-inducing live show and a significant fan base around the country that already has press talking -- "Ume's Lauren Langner Larson - a diminutive blonde rocking opposite her bass-playing husband, Eric- may be the most promising female voice to smack the indie rock world in years," Independent Weekly exclaimed. "She turns the pensive femme writer paradigm on its head, sporting a seriously scary welp and a deceptively sultry growl." While inevitably critics will clamour for comparisons -- "Distortion-heavy jams (and the whole marriage thing) invite comparisons to Sonic Youth, but Ume do more headbanging and wailing," Rolling Stone declared -- Ume is ultimately a beast unto itself and a band who's time has come. In the words of early fan Dave Allen (Gang of Four): "Do not overlook and go tell your friends!"