When they released the striking track ‘See Red’ earlier in 2021, Perth duo Echo Adore gave listeners further insight to their ever-strengthening creative dynamic.
Showing off a knack for fusing together indie pop influences together with smart alt production and arrangement, Echo Adore cracked open a new chapter with impact.
Now, the pair of Oliver James and Damian Diggs return with another impassioned release, this time in ‘Fantasma’. Like ‘See Red’ before it, this track has a yearning, wistful vibe to it, buoyed by great blends of guitar and percussion. Between Diggs and Oliver, there exists a solid style of storytelling and with ‘Fantasma’, they bounce off each other with a natural ease.
Recorded at Perth’s Blackbird Studios with Dave Parkin (Pond, Karnivool) and William Bowden (Ball Park Music, You Am I) on mixing and mastering, ‘Fantasma’ is a song Echo Adore focused on themes of love and loss. Inspired by bands like Crowded House and INXS, the track came together after a long night of swapping stories.
“…All the cheesy stories you tell yourself about how you’re the protagonist in your own rom-com. That post break-up fog where you’re always right. We were listening to a lot of Crowded House and INXS, remarking that most pop songs are told from a righteous perspective. We wanted to write one from the other side: the person who doesn’t realise they’re the problem.
Pop songs, love and negativity. Not the best tasting combination. It has all the tropes of a love song. The gendered gaze, the cries for attention and the saccharine harmonies. But underneath we wanted to have a second commentary on pop songs themselves. The idea that pop can reinforce unhealthy fixations, usually from a male perspective projected onto women.”
ECHO ADORE