Introducing: Phantom Handshakes – A Passport to Remain & 3 Questions

“Phantom Handshakes is a lo-fi, dream pop collaboration between Federica Tassano and Matt Sklar.”

For me, it is much more. I have been a fan of their music from the first day I discovered them I think through Submithub. Yes, that awful Submithub. I was super happy to work with them under Z Tapes and their music quickly became one of most favorite ones I have ever released. Time flies by and here is another release. This time self-released without physical media, which is a pity because I would love to add this new album to my physical collection of their music. This new album is another lo-fi dreamy jangly masterpiece with beautiful vocals by Federica. I am enjoying all the atmospheres they are creating with their music. It is like having a big hazy dream where the characters are not clearly visible but are dancing in a great hall. Maybe you have different associations with this music and I would love to know them. You can share them with me on Instagram.

Go and put headphones on and blast this album in your ears so you can fully enjoy it.

In the meantime you can read this short interview with the band with our 3 questions:

What inspired you to start making music and what keeps you making music?

Music has always been a fun creative outlet for us. Since I started learning how to play an instrument and started playing in bands I would always be playing around with ideas and see if I could write songs. I’d have a stockpile of demo recordings on my home computer. With the lockdown in 2020 I used that time to teach myself more about home recording and started sharing ideas I was recording with Federica. Originally I was thinking we’d record and release a couple of songs and that would be the end of it, but the response we were getting from the songs and the ease and excitement from writing together really inspired us to keep going with it.

What was the most challenging thing in your music (artistic) path?

The actual writing and recording of our music comes pretty naturally and easy for us. We record everything ourselves and we found out early on that we both like to write and record quickly and not linger on an idea for too long. If we’re struggling with a song, or it’s just not working for us, we move on to another one. So there’s an immediacy to the music. The biggest challenge for us is everything else that comes with releasing music in this day and age – the need to promote, to keep up with social media, make music videos, book tours and whatever else musicians need to do to get their music across. It can be fun and rewarding when we’re releasing something we’re excited about, but it can be a bit nerve-wracking

What would you dream to do if anything was possible?

We would love to tour Europe! Our dream would be to go on a European tour supporting our favorite band (we don’t have to headline!), so if Weyes Blood or Alvvays is reading this and looking for an opener for their next tour: give us a call!

Go and support the band on Bandcamp.