The duo of
Peter Bjorn and John's
Björn Yttling and
Teddybears'
Joakim Åhlund debuted their side project,
Smile, with a mercurial set of punchy, hooky instrumentals and songs, A Flash in the Night, in 2012. Setting the project aside for nearly a decade, the pair released several more albums with their respective bands while producing separately and together for the likes of
Lykke Li,
Franz Ferdinand,
Chrissie Hynde,
Charli XCX, and
Primal Scream before returning to
Smile for 2021's
Phantom Island. A merger of Krautrock, indie rock, disco, and psychedelia, it, like their debut, operates primarily as a melodic, groove-based instrumental soundtrack with a couple songs -- in this case opportune guest spots for vocalists -- that lock in and fortify the track list.
Phantom Island features none other than
Robyn on one such track, "Call My Name." Following the over-seven-minute-long psychedelic funk-rock instrumental "Kylie," "Call My Name" engages with simpler, wistful, unison melodic hooks and a dreamy delay that supports lyrics like, "Standing on the shoreline…You feel like you're all alone/You never know, never know, no." The album's other featured vocal is Freja the Dragon on the duet "Eon," a likewise yearning, overcast tune but with brighter keyboard timbres and a driving eighth-note pulse that support the song's adjusted expectations. The remaining tracks are varied but engaging, with components ranging from the acoustic guitar and operatic human and whistling voices on the cinematic "Different Kind of Fog," a vintage Western-style lament, to the vocoder, wah-wah guitar attack, synths, and disco beats of the turn-of-the-'80s-evoking "Dressed for Success." It features live drums from
Peter Bjorn and John's
John Eriksson. Elsewhere,
Primal Scream guitarist
Andrew Innes solos on tracks including the penultimate "Landsort."
Phantom Island closes on a title track that brings together acoustic guitar, a simple, repeated piano line, murky electronic noise, and a distant programmed beat for a dreamlike, dancefloor-clearing denouement. ~ Marcy Donelson