Phantom Buffalo

Phantom Buffalo-Shishimumu ****(four stars)
On the cover, four innocent, lemon faced children stand on a red wedding cake beneath the arch of a magical city. All is rendered with obsessive detail. It's cute, futuristic, druggy, a little disturbing. Something on the horizon is burning. This is the world of Phantom Buffalo, where Jonathan Balzano-Brookes sings sweet falsetto tales of bugs, ghosts, and lost children, to a crunchy country psych production; part Shins, part Mike Nesmith's First National Band. The More you listen, the more beautiful and strange it becomes, as songs reveal hidden melodies and riffs, and Balzano-Brookes trills weird-out lines like, "There's something in the radio." Like looking at a beautiful landscape painting, and seeing something move in the corner.
-Andrew Male (MOJO magazine)
MOJO magazine voted Shishimumu (our first album) the 42nd best album of 2005
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"..."A Hilly Town" is five minutes of gorgeous, non-linear indie rambling that starts off like 'Hey Joe' being played underwater before OD'ing on lyrics about golf balls and guitars that sound like baby larks singing. Although the Albums Editor has usefully just pointed out that the noise is actually a delay pedal" (NME review for our 'A Hilly Town' single)