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Sep 07, 2021 By Caleb Campbell

This fall, Birmingham-based band Phantom Limb is back with their new LP, Pastoral, an exploration of the rural South of singer/songwriter Andrew Laningham’s youth. Blending indie pop hooks with fascinating electronic textures and samples, Laningham explores a full vision of his childhood locale, both in its idyllic beauty and underlying pains.

As Laningham explains, “Modern media, the internet, and technology have become a part of rural life, leading to this weirdness, claustrophobia, and overstimulation. While the pastoral can be beautiful, it also represents an empty happiness that relies on empty symbols taken out of context—even while they retain a part of their original beauty.”

Laningham has already shared Guppy, the debut single from the album, and today he’s back with his latest single and video, “Dumbo Returns,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Dumbo Returns” represents a more insular turn for the band, diving into a paranoid dreamscape of reverb-laden guitars and overlapping shifting electronics. While the resulting track turns towards dark textures, it is still irresistibly catchy, thanks to the driving central bassline and sharp twisting melodies. Amidst it all, Laningham’s lyrics trace a portrait of encroaching paranoia and confusion with lines like “Painting eyes on all the sides of our homes/It comes at you alone/Wild eyed and estranged .“

As Langingham explains, “‘Dumbo Returns’ reflects the panic I felt surrounding 2020, particularly COVID. I wrote a version of this song about two years ago, but ended up scrapping it and never recording it. I decided to revisit this song when writing Pastoral. I redid the whole song and rewrote the lyrics to reflect my headspace of last year (which was pretty disoriented and generally bad). The song ended up centering around how my mental state led to these paranoid thinking patterns. It’s about how anxiety can lead to more bizzarro anxiety, kind of replicating itself like the world’s worst Xerox machine. ‘Dumbo Returns’ is about me struggling with that, and trying to pick up the pieces afterwards.”

Check out the track and video below and watch for Pastoral, due out November 16th via Earth Libraries.