Phantogram - Three

Phantogram's third album is their darkest and most direct, and Three still lands with a jolt, pairing big, bruising pop hooks with a heavy heart.

Released in 2016 on Republic, the record arrived after Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter had grown from an indie trip-hop duo into a major-label pop act. Its making was shaped by tragedy: Barthel's older sister, Becky, died early that year, and the loss weighs on much of the album. Ricky Reed served as producer and executive producer, working alongside the duo, John Hill and Dan Wilson to give the songs a sharper, more widescreen sound than anything they had made before.

Lead single You Don't Get Me High Anymore builds its thumping groove around a drum break from Eddie Bo's 1969 track Hook and Sling, a neat example of the duo's love of crate-digging. Funeral Pyre opens the album, Same Old Blues follows close behind, and Cruel World comes in short and sharp at under three minutes. Throughout, Carter's beats and guitars push hard against vocals that sound bruised but defiant.

Ten tracks in under forty minutes, with not a wasted second, it is the sound of grief turned into something you can move to, and it hits just as hard today.