moody singer/songwriters presents :
Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon
->Cubs
demo (2007), CD (2010)








demo    Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon : demo (IRL/UK,2007)**°°

I received a demo of this group/project which consisted of 3 tracks from the EP, released May 2007, and 4 tracks from the upcoming full release, which will be released January 2008. This  should give me an idea of the artist.

Phantom of the Dog beneath the Moon is actually a duo for which the singer/songwriter part with guitar is by Aaron, and the electronic music & textures by Scott.  Both artists work well together, which is when the singer is well focused and uses his voice like a crying instrument, with sweet pickings on guitar, like on “To be kind”, the instrumentalist colours the rest perfectly too. “Blue Velvet Lullaby” reaches higher in the sky with this kind of singing, as if trying to catch something from the air, just like water reaching up to become absorbed in the air and eternity, and then fall from the sky like snow, peacefully. On the track, “a web emerging from fog”, the textures fit perfectly with the title : the piano theme sounds like ice, there are echoing amplified guitar tones, and all of this becomes pretty abstract, in a descriptive way, a bit hazy foggy and misty. But the music as well as songs and vocals can also lose itself completely in that haze, losing its clear form in melody and arrangements, becoming blurry like melted snow into ice. Then, the electronica forms small little soundscapes on its own…

This demo contains 3 tracks from the EP, released may 2007, and 4 tracks from the upcoming full release, which will be released january 2008.

Audio : "To Be Kind"
Info & audio : http://www.myspace.com/phantomdog
Info on EP "through a forest only" : http://www.rustedrail.com/phantomdog2.html
Other review : http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/reviews.php?which=2468
Other reviews of full CD : with 3 audio tracks : http://www.wovenwheatwhispers.co.uk/...
& on http://www.eveningoflight.nl/en/reviews/phadog_light.htm
& http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry070725-105835
& http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/reviews.php?which=2468
& http://www.rustedrail.com/phantomdogreview2.html
& in Dutch : http://www.eveningoflight.nl/nl/reviews/phadog_light.htm
Rusted Rail    Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon : The Trees, The Sea in a lunar Stream(IR/UK,2010)***°

After a couple of years I finally hear an official release by this duo, consisting of Aaron Hurley and Scott McLauglin. Leading are Aaron’s slightly melancholic, moody, emotional high pitched whispery vocal led songs (on the first song slightly broken), accompanied by acoustic and electrified acoustic pickings with warm additional arrangements of cello, drums, piano, double bass, harpsichord, melodica, glockenspiel, softly breathed trumpet and subtle electronics. This sort of melancholy is highly attractive and drags you into the whole album. One track with deformed voice his voices whines stronger, and the arrangements becomes sort of rockier. On the last track, the band arrangements even slightly “freak-out” in a temperamental way, bringing the shoegazing factor into its heights of energy. Very good !

Info & audio : http://www.myspace.com/phantomdog & http://www.myspace.com/rustedrail
Label info : http://www.rustedrail.com/phantomdog2.html
& http://rustedrail.blogspot.com/
go back to the singer-songwriters index
or go back to the general index