“Dive” and “immerse” probably aren’t the cleverest terms one could use in describing the intensive heart and mind wash that happens during a listen to the latest album by a band called Water and Man. But beyond a total musical “baptism,” it’s probably the best way to launch a conversation about Phantasie, the five piece band’s new album, which offers the listener a multi-sensory opportunity to float into a musical dreamscape full of transcendent atmospheres, electronic grooves, jangly guitars and the haunting, ethereal vocals of lead singer Vic Delnur.
Representing a fresh beginning for the group after recently relocating to NYC from their home base of Rio de Janeiro - where they released their acclaimed 2014 debut Into the Infinite – Phantasie bring forth and fuse the best element of psychedelic rock and 80’s synth pop with a contemporary existential sensibility. Sometimes, their words blend gracefully into the mystical mist, and sometimes there are no words at all (as on the atmospheric electronic rocker “Nias”), but when we can decipher them, we learn that they’re all about our collective search for meaning and anything that can fulfill our deepest desires to understand our existence and how to make life matter.
Water and Man’s latest single “When It Comes To Life” is a poetic, hypnotic quest towards that end, drawing on the water theme to create metaphors on the way to finding “a sight that satisfies.” Delnur sings about drifting to the Oceanside, waves drawing him closer, a warm breeze coming with the tide, following the current, the ocean floor being a surprise and drinking at the fountain of life. Helping Water and Man create their spiritually impactful album are Grammy winning producers and mixers Daniel Schlett and Victor Chicri, whose colorful mix of textured vocals and dynamic reverberating synth washes bring Delnur’s essential productions to vibrant life.