Video: Phon°noir: "My Paperhouse on Fire"
Phon°noir is Berlin multi-instrumentalist Matthias Grübel, who shapes loops of his guitar, bass, drums, synths and whispery vocals into percolating electronic art-pop akin to Múm, Telefon Tel Aviv, or Lullatone. After releasing his last album, 2006's Putting Holes Into October Skies, on Quartemass, Phon°noir recently graduated to the imprint's Brussels-based parent label, Sub Rosa, to drop latest full-length The Objects Don't Need Us. "My Paperhouse on Fire", from the new album, gives a good idea of his whirring beats and warm, soupy instrumentation.
Grübel's sighing, creaking vocal delivery might be an acquired taste for some, but he gets help from Marie-Sophie Kanske, of German electronic project Transatlanticism (yes, named after the-- somehow both underrated and overrated-- Death Cab for Cutie album). The video, directed by Sebastian Haslauer and Sebastian Koch, would be worth watching regardless of the music. With chopped-up animations of record players, houses, and most of all color, interspersed with shots of Grübel, the clip brings to mind Michel Gondry's magic-realist fantasies. You know what, though? People in paper houses probably shouldn't start fire.
[from The Objects Don't Need Us; out now on Sub Rosa]