Phantom Handshakes release ‘Cricket Songs’ single

Phantom Handshakes are releasing a lo-fi dream pop album soon, titled No More Summer Songs, through ZTapes (a Slovakian bedroom pop label). The album is an eleven-track LP, and they released their second single, Cricket Songs, this week. The New York City band explains that the song is their “ode to teenage memories of long summer days spent at home, getting bored, and listening to music on the radio.”

Matt Sklar mixes layers of electric guitar with chorus, delay, and ambient reverb, shaped to sit in the midrange, while playing dream pop with touches of surf. The drums are programmed with bright compressed beats. Synths gently fill the space, but don’t draw attention to themselves. Federica Tassano‘s vocals are layered and mixed with a pronounced dark vocal plate, and passed through a narrow EQ band.

“And the radio plays the tunes that we know
We dance to the summer songs
Once your mama came upstairs
she yelled, she screamed, her eyes were red
No more summer songs”

Phantom Handshakes – Cricket Songs (BandCamp)

Phantom Handshakes formed during the Quarantine, “to cope with the quarantine’s gloom.” Even their name reflects the social changes that came with the Pandemic. They released an EP in the summer of 2020, Be Estranged, and immediately began writing/recording songs for their new album between August and November. No More Summer Songs comes out April 30, and can be pre-ordered on BandCamp.