Synth Single Review: “Phantoms” by Power Rob & Night Rider 87

by Karl Magi

Power Rob & Night Rider 87’s “Phantoms” explores an intense connection between two people. The song kicks into gear with subterranean bass and tremulous notes as Power Rob’s engaging, compelling vocals carry a melody that surges with potential and enigmatic strength. A surging drum beat charges forward as the vocals capture all of the need and yearning within the lyrics while a crystalline synth glistens with slick light.

Power Rob is a gripping performer who pulls me into his world as a piercing synth bursts with effulgence and the terrifically propulsive low end slams forward. Night Rider 87’s production creates a fitting atmosphere for the song. The track drifts into a reverent, serene float while gritty bass rumbles, and the vocals power up again as the drums rush and the chorus launches with tremendous force and conviction. The low end is incredibly muscled and aggressive while Power Rob belts out the words before the song ends.

It’s automatic and our storyteller says the song’s subject wouldn’t get it “unless you ever live it,” when they have come a long way from worlds apart. He adds that it’s all “operatic, out in the desert madness” as they leave their past behind, coming from worlds apart.

“From the dusk, the dawn, we’re phantoms,” and the narrator talks about them moving in the dust and the dark “with a vengeance.” He cannot get enough, feeling that he’s never been enough, but he’s seen enough and has been “looking to lose that feeling.”

For our storyteller, it is “automatic until we are together.” He feels that he hasn’t mattered, but he and the song’s subject have come together across great distances from worlds apart. Reiterating that it’s operatic, he concludes, “In the dark we will inhabit a world we will imagine and we’ve come so far from worlds apart.”