Phony PPL Are The Musical Equivalent Of Pure Joy

CLICK HERE To Go Back To Blurred Culture’s SXSW Artist Page For March 13th, 2019

AUSTIN, TX- Do you want to see what pure joy looks like on stage? I suggest you hit up a Phony PPL show. These gents embody it.

Formed over a decade ago back in 2008, Elbee Thrie (Vocals), Elijah Rawk (Lead Guitar), Matt “Maffyuu” Byas (Drums), Aja Grant (Keyboard) and Bari Bass (Bass) all went over to Elbee’s house cause he was grounded, and they started jamming; and they haven’t stopped since. They release their debut album, Yesterday’s Tomorrow, in 2015, and followed it up with their sophomore effort mō’zā-ik in 2018.

mō’zā-ik is an adventurous album. It’s an album that clearly exhibits the band’s diverse musical interests and fearlessness. The albums is neo-soul centric, but elements of jazz, new age, art rock and psychedelia permeate throughout the album’s 11 cuts. In an NPR interview, Rawk compared the album to a museum where “every room you walk into has a different color scheme, a different smell, a different everything about it”. I couldn’t agree more. For “every room”, there’s something to bring a smile to every face and a bounce to everyone’s step.

Phony PPL are able to bring the energy that they’ve laid down on wax to their live show as well, and I got to witness that first hand at SXSW for their performance at Banger’s on StubHub’s Soundstage.

The whole group was sonically on point, but what made this performance a particular joy to watch was the youthful exuberance exhibited by both Elbee and Bari. Elbee’s loose and lithe physicality matched his easy flowing vocals and Bari was a whirling dervish of an instrumentalist, dancing with his bass around the stage- and even in the audience- letting the funk infuse his soul.

Truth be told, I wasn’t all to familiar with their repertoire, but it’s hard not to fall in love with a band when the band itself is having so much fun on stage. If this sampling of their live show is indicative of what they’re like on the regular, you can bet that I’ll put five on it to see them again when they’re back in my neck of the woods.

Follow Phony PPL on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

CLICK HERE To Go Back To Blurred Culture’s SXSW Artist Page For March 13th, 2019

*********************