Introducing… Phantom Runners

Here at Bearded we aim to shed light on acts who don't necessarily have giant labels or muscley budgets waving banners behind them. This Introducing series will focus on artists who we think are great, regardless of how much hype surrounds them or where their origin story lays.

Bio
Name: Phantom Runners
Location: Brighton, UK
Genre: Dreamgaze
Similar Artists: The Temper Trap, The Durutti Column, Felt
Contact: Facebook, Twitter
Events: New EP due this July, 'Chasing The Feeling' single out April 23rd

Hailing from the seaside resort and current musical hub Brighton, Phantom Runners are an intriguing fusion of dream-laced shoegaze doing the breaststroke in pools of lo-fi FX, early '90s britpop and gritty hip-hop. It's a strange, beguiling concoction that beckons you close to unleash a sonic tsunami.



On their latest single, 'Chasing The Feeling', the four-piece spin a kind of airy tranquillity, like waking up from somnolent bliss to cool sunshine and crisp linens. It's a Sunday mornin' bleary utopia. Gooey vocals glide in and out of reverberating guitars and epic stadium piano/synth hooks; there's also a rap breakdown, which you probably wouldn't expect – and it fits so well, oddly, but well. Singer/guitarist Adam Al-Hilali explains the effort's deeper meaning: “We were by the Stone Circle at Glastonbury one year, and it got to about eight in the morning after a heavy night and my brother was still in search of something to keep the party going, and I just called out to him to give it a rest… you're just chasing the feeling.”

After a cover with ASOS and winning a vote at BalconyTV, the quartet seem to be gearing up for a big 2014: they're midway through a tour at the moment, and have festival-shaped plans for summer after the release of their new EP in July (which they've been working with Huey Morgan on). It couldn't come better timed either really, as hypnagogic pop like this is the perfect soundtrack for summer breezes, beachfront laziness and getting wasted in fields.