Preview: “The Pines” by Phantom Limb

Phantom Limb debut video for the title track to their new album ‘The Pines’.

Phantom Limb will be released their first single, the title track to their anticipated new album, ‘The Pines’, on December 12th, via Naim Edge Records with the album to follow on February 13th.

Phantom Limb are an unusual musical prospect, drawing together a range of different sounds and experiences. By day, various members of the group have earned their crust as session musicians, vocalists and songwriters, skirting round the edges of the industry.

Having met by chance amidst these workmanlike sessions, Phantom Limb formed in 2004, and released their self-titled debut album in 2008. Yet it is with their second offering – ‘The Pines’ – that you sense they’re truly stepping out to the front of the stage. The Pines is an assured, well-studied and heartfelt record, absorbing an array of classic influences. Musically, the songs stand at the crossroads between Country and classic R&B, which – from Ray Charles’ country albums to The Staple Singers fronting The Band. Yet as singer Yolanda succinctly puts it, “Country and gospel are the same, just with different race singers.” The skill of Phantom Limb lies in their ability to assimilate these seemingly-disparate influences in a manner that feels effortless and idiosyncratic.

The Pines was in part conceived on the road, then in rural France, before being produced by Marc Ford (The Black Crowes) in Signal Hill; the oil capital of California. All proved to be conducive settings for an album largely written about escape. It’s all there in the restlessness of the title track, as well as the bruised-hearted Muscle Shoals vibes of ‘Give Me A Reason’. The resigned, working-for-the-man sigh of ‘Gravy Train’ captures the overriding sense that the band have spent all day making ends meet, but will sing songs they love long into the night. The Pines themselves act as a central metaphor for the longing to break out, and creatively, Phantom Limb appears to provide these expert musicians with the opportunity to do just that.

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