#FeatureFriday The Speed of Time by phoneswithchords

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The Speed of Time by phoneswithchords

“Bedroom Pop” has long been used semi-derisively to describe artists who record music at home. The argument, purists say, is that the Beatles could’ve never recorded The White Album with a single SM57 and a Focusrite Scarlett.

I think by now most people know I am a sucker for this kinda thing. I love a lo-fi, melodic, saturated, pop song with angular arrangements. Fuzzy Beachboys meets Grandaddy and Sparklehorse on a road trip to hangout with that curious dude we knew who would stick his amp in an empty bath to try and capture a weird reverb.

The one who would use an sm58 like a wand.

The first person I knew like that was a guy called Malik, teardrop guitar, vox ac30 and an sm58. Duvets and bathtubs. Man was a madhead but the stuff he created with limited resources was phenomenal.

This album has that mojo, that special sauce. It also helps that it has great songs to work with. Stuff like this fails without that. That’s the sell. A shite song with a great production is still a shite song.

That’s not to say that this is a bad production, to my ears it works.

Ultimately it’s the song that wins, everything else is secondary. Do the songs and arrangements work. Does it occupy and emotional space. Does it have honesty and truth. Does it love itself. Can YOU feel that love? Because in this lane of outsider music that is the most important thing, does it ring true, does it move things in you? It glam stomps, it shoegazes, it epics, it lofis.

What’s not to love?

You see the thing is, most of my joy comes from music like this. I like the attention to detail, the simple but slanted nuances thrown in casually. The harmonies here are a real treat. So yes, it is heavily saturated and that may lead to ear exhaustion but it’s a tonal quality for me that helps to glue all the elements together.

My attention span is pretty lousy at the best of times. I’m easily distracted but one place it can be reigned in is with music. This is an album that manages to do that. It throws down this sleazy little glam rock tunes up against the downbeat introspective songs. That’s when it lifts up, shows you the whole throat. I mean when it gets that stomp on it shimmies like a mother hubbard and I’m all for that.

Totally recommend.

Untidy Music

I just love doing these reviews, it lets me talk about cool music and in the process allows us to give deserving artists a platform and hopefully some more fans. That said, it makes me do something that I don’t really like to do and that’s comparing artists to other artists and labeling them a genre or two. I feel it’s constrictive and suffocating and if my review writing is not up to snuff that week I might even turn you off to a band you might otherwise love. So let’s do that to phoneswithchords shall we?

Phoneswithchords kinda sound like your dad’s vinyl crate that’s left gathering dust up in the attic. The one you love to browse through while overcome with a sense of awe wondering what type of music hides behind all those intriguing yet weird covers. So you set out to discover the plethora of sounds that hide within its cardboard borders. And listening to phoneswithchords’ ‘The Speed of Time’ kinda sounds *and* feels like that.

It’s whimsical in a Britpop way, a bit Bluesy at times with the occasional hint of Psychedlica and a Shoegazey slant to the overall sound.

And this is why I hate labeling and comparing artists cause I already know what you’re thinking, it’s all derivative and uninspired. But let me tell you that it’s absolutely not, these songs have way too much emotional depth and are too clearly crafted with love to just be a cynical copy of something that came before. Phoneswithchords clearly have some songwriting chops which is apparent in both the beautiful songs as well as the careful pacing of the album as a whole. You can tell it’s a product that’s born from that love of exploration of sound and song, that passion that makes you lay awake at night thinking about all the cool stuff you could add to those songs to make them even better. So pure passion, you can hear it in its fibre.

So all in all this is a lovely experience of an album that blends influences from many classic Rock genres but makes something out of that that not only sounds updated and modern but full of heart.

Eveyweveydevey

This is an album I have mixed feelings about. It’s modern Indie Rock that is not afraid to borrow from other genres, the lyrics are very strong, and I really like the vulnerable, expressive vocals.
What bothers me a bit, however, is the deliberate approach to sound quality. Everything sounds quite fuzzy and overdriven, with the guitar especially sounding almost crushed at times. And I’m very certain that this was not a result of low grade equipment, but a stylistic choice, since in a few songs, the tone becomes much cleaner at select moments. I assume, this is meant to evoke a lo-fi, homemade feeling, but to me this feels a bit overdone. And I have to stress this, that’s very much a question of taste.

Other than that, though, I have no issues whatsoever with this album. As I mentioned, the vocals are standing out, for how pulled back and almost at the verge of breaking they sound. This does a tremendous job of letting Arthur express a tender vulnerability that is quite endearing. Similarly, the lyrics are expressing insecurities, fears and desires, that feel very relatable to me. They walk the line between introspection and external events quite beautifully.

Overall, I’d say that this is an album that I want to love, but can’t fully get there. The sound is simply too opague for me and I could not enjoy the seriously great elements that are present here, to the full extent that they deserve. It’s very much a “me” issue, however, and I’d absolutely recommend people to give this a listen.

Florgoth

Updated: June 19, 2026 — 5:08 am

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