It was March, 2013, when we first came across the debut musical offering from UK band Phoria, and we fell instantly for the unique and haunting atmosphere it possessed. The taciturn approach to songwriting from member Trewin Howard allowed a penetrating insight into his world with minimal vocals, permitting the symphonies of the band's percussive sound to say what he could not. In the three years since, we’ve watched the band develop as they released a slow, steady stream of material with each release more impressive than the last. Now, Phoria has come together to declare their musical statement upon the world with their first full-length album, Volition. A quick perusal of the album tracklist will show that it does, indeed, contain material from their previously released EPs, but make no mistake, because this is no mere greatest hits record. The singles in question, “Emanate”, “Red”, and “Undone”, always felt somewhat displaced in their EP residency, but they feel right at home in Volition here. Recently, the road to Volition was paved with the sensory vibrations of “Saving Us A Riot”, “Melatonin”, and “Evolve”, and now, together with unheard material such as the ethereal harmonic patchwork of “Mass”, the vocal interlude of “By The Salt”, and the emphatic orchestral conclusion of “Yourself Still”, the painting of Phoria’s musical mosaic is set in place to create an intricate and stunning, triumphant vista overall. Volition is available now on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and Spotify.
Phoria