Josh Carter of Phantogram Breaks Down the Unlikely Influences of ‘Three’

Alternative pop duo Phantogram are back with their third full-length, which is aptly titled “Three.” On the strength of first single, “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore,” the record has become one of the most highly anticipated releases of 2016. Blending rock ‘n roll and electronic influences under the dynamic vocals of members Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, “Three” lives up to its high expectations. Carter spoke with Entertainment Voice about the influences of the record, working with Big Boi and taking the songs on the road.

Your last album “Voices” introduced the band to a wider audience. Did that add pressure to the creative process for “Three”?

No, I think when we were making “Voices,” we felt a little pressure early, because when we made our first record we had no fans at all, we were just making music, which is the whole point. But we got over this hump where we wanted to make music that we would want to hear and listen to and so far so good. So we just keep rolling with it and making music that we like.

Where did writing and recording “Three” fall in the timeline of collaborating with Big Boi as Big Grams?

Well we did “Voices” and then toured on that, finished up our respective tours and he did an Outkast tour. Then we just decided to knock out the Big Grams project for fun and did a bunch of festivals. After that, we went back into the studio and worked on “Three.”

Has your work on that project and previous collaborations with Big Boi influenced your approach with Phantogram?

I mean yes and no. I think everything you do might subconsciously influence something else. It’s very much a Phantogram record and Big Grams is a whole separate identity, entity to itself. It’s a fun projectnot that Phantogram isn’tbut it’s just completely separate. But I’m sure sub-consciously it affected things in a way.

When you finished recording “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore,” did you feel like you had a radio hit on your hands?

I never really know what’s going to do well. I think I have a different ear than the “masses.” When “Fall in Love” did really well from “Voices,” I didn’t really have any inclination that people would like it so much. To me, it was just as weird as any song that we had done.

Once I started playing our record for friends or in the studio, people would poke their head in and say, ‘This one’s going to fly really well with the public’ or whatever. We thought it was a good song to put out and give people a little taste of what’s to come. It’s a Phantogram record, so it’s very diverse but we thought it would be a good starter song to put out in the world.

While Sarah does most of the singing, your voice is a major part of “You’re Mine” – how do you decide who sings on specific parts?

It’s really organic. I write a lot of our vocal melodies and most of our lyrics, so it’s not like whoever wrote something needs to be the one singing it. I often have Sarah’s voice in mind when I come up with things. We just figure out what sounds good. I mean there are times where, for example the song “Barking Dog,” on the new album I just had to sing it. I wrote it in Upstate New York, and it was so personal to me that it was my song to sing on no matter what. But generally we don’t delegate things in a particular fashion, it’s just a matter of what we think sounds good.

The music of Phantogram straddles several different genres – is there one style of music that influenced you and Sarah most when writing “Three”?

I bounce around a lot from listening to Krautrock and soul music. That is probably my biggest influence for this album, like Gladys Knight and the Pips and Can. And the album sounds like neither of those bands. So that is probably what I was listening to mostly.

It’s still early in the tour, but how have the new songs been translating to the live stage?

Dope, it’s been really good. We’ve been having so much fun playing these songs, we’re new at them so they develop and kind of change as we tour. But I am really loving playing the new songs for sure.

I’m sure you have your hands full with promoting this new record and touring, but can we expect collaborations in the future or even another Big Grams record?

Oh yeah for sure. Once we are done with this cycle. I make beats all the time and we talk to Big a lot; we’ll probably hang out with him in Atlanta. We’re definitely going to cook up a new record for Big Grams.

Three is available on Apple Music Oct. 7.