Reliving a blissful adolescence
Up-and-coming indie band Phantastic Ferniture released their self-titled album on July 27. Friends Julia Jacklin, Elizabeth Hughes and Ryan K Brennan collectively created thirty-five minutes of easy to listen to melodies, relatable lyrics and promising musicality. There is a contagious sense of joy that courses through Phantastic Ferniture and a nostalgic sense of bliss that lingers past our teenage years. Like a project of self-discovery, Phantastic Ferniture’s debut album experiments with style, tone and reflective lyrics.
Phantastic Ferniture plays with the concept of the comfort zone as the album dwells in this naïve bliss of being an “Uncomfortable Teenager.” The band, however, plays within their own comfort zone. This first song of the album maintains a steady drumbeat, while the bass drives a dance rhythm and the guitar adds a cheeky riff. Phantastic Ferniture seems to reminisce about the unadulterated freedom of adolescence.
The following three songs collectively tell a lyrical anecdote, as uplifting melodies and buoyant beats are accompanied by lead vocalist Julia Jacklin’s diary-like lyrics.
“Bad Timing” falls into place with ideal timing. The tempo seems similar to any other pop-rock hit, but Jacklin’s vocals add originality through vulnerability and heartache. Jacklin sings into the void of past relationships, “did sleeping around set you free?” with a cathartic howl of desperation. The band introduces the bold single-worthy track “Fuckin ‘n’ Rollin” with a groovy bassline and humming vocals. If you listen close enough, the soft stringy guitar picking at 1:45 sounds lightly influenced by East Asian instrumental music. “Gap year” fills the soundwaves with a similar vintage dance theme to Dexys Midnight Runners’ “Come on Eileen.” This song captures the feeling of wanting something or someone just out of reach. Jacklin sings “I love you even if you don’t want me to,” as if speaking to someone directly. Listen carefully and turn the volume up a notch at 2:25 because Phantastic Ferniture perfectly lose themselves in their music. “Take It Off” follows with a slow tempo-like foreplay in an intimate moment, where the downbeat and gentle vocals lean into a rhythm for sensual hip-swaying. Jacklin sings “I take my time and you take it off” with the edge of a rising punk star. This song perfectly showcases her vocal range with control and precise pitch, unwavering as her words flow from one to another.
With methodical transparency, Jacklin’s vocals float in like another instrument filling the musical staff with treble–or trouble. The melodic lo-fi song “Parks” feeds into the garage rock sound of the album: her voice inflections add angst and originality, while the tempo and tune change periodically to match her. The next track “I Need It” has a grunge appeal to the wiry, elongated guitar that creates textured sound. To be completely honest, this song adds little but time to the album, as Jacklin’s vocals are repetitive and relatively predictable.
The album picks back up with a funky pop beat that bounces back and forth in “Dark Corner Dance Floor.” Jacklin switches to her falsetto seamlessly and dances in between octaves making this a potential hit. The music video is less a visual accompaniment and more an art piece demonstrating the care-free attitude of friends Jacklin and Hughes, where the nooks and alleys of the city are their dance floor.
The last song of the album “Mumma y Papa” begins with slow strumming and plucking. Jacklin speaks in a lower tone–jazz rap tying her words together like a stream of consciousness. Phantastic Ferniture’s debut album is beautiful and dynamically interesting, but they definitely have room to grow. One could argue that the album in itself tells its listeners that this debut album is just the beginning. On the album cover, the Australian trio has plants on their necks rather than faces. Just like in adolescence, we grow–sometimes recklessly–to piece ourselves together like a puzzle. Judging by their demeanor, Phantastic Ferniture cares less about what critics say and more about the creative experience and the obvious joy that pours through their music. Phantastic Ferniture emulates the perfect chaos of growing up, and if you give the band a chance, they will let you in on their secret to navigating adolescence.
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