Phantom Power, the 1998 release from the Tragically Hip, falls into that often tenuous moment in a band’s career, where they’re stuck in limbo between continuing to hit the notes that made them popular while also threatening to stagnate creatively. The Hip had cemented themselves as one of the biggest Canadian rock bands of all time, a consistent presence at clubs and stadiums alike across the country and the pride of Kingston, Ontario. 1991’s Road Apples and 1992’s Fully Completely were poetic and heartfelt, finding a balance between boisterous, hook-y singles and more abstract lyrical elements. Six years, two lackluster releases and one live album later, the band were still icons, but hadn’t produced a noteworthy record in some time.Phantom Power may be the best example of what the Tragically Hip does so well and what has endeared them to Canadians for decades now. It’s perhaps the purest distillation of ‘The Hip’, where Gord Downie’s vivid and intangible imagery finds a home alongside the swampy grooves and always on-point pocket drumming. Few songs in the Hip’s discography exemplify this better than album lead-off “Poets,” a track that not only boasts a sing-along chorus and an earworm-y lead riff, but also sees Downie being purposely vague while vocally nimble. The interplay of muscular guitar riffs and Downie’s often-delicate vocal rhythm manages to downplay the band’s more anthemic elements, and it’s a sweet spot the band has hit for years.Such a balance pervades the entire record, and it’s what separates the Hip from so many other staples of the Canadian music landscape. They’re not as technical as Rush, or as influenced by garage rock as Deep Purple, or as indebted to folk traditions as Gordon Lightfoot, but they have elements of each and deploy them near-perfectly throughout Phantom Power. There’s the mist of Canadian history that blankets “Bobcaygeon,” namechecking the small Ontario town while also making reference to the Horseshoe Tavern (“that night in Toronto/with its checkerboard floors/riding on horseback”) and the Christie Pits riot of 1933 (“and their voice rang/with that Aryan twang”), a result of xenophobic tension after a baseball game. There’s “Thompson Girl,” which has such a beautiful and confident sense of place and identity, an evocative tale of love and longing. “Escape is at Hand for the Travellin’ Man” is forever tied to the late Jim Ellison of Material Issue, a song about creative and personal struggle that’s bolstered by some of the most atmospheric and unstructured guitar work that Rob Baker ever put on record.Phantom Power is at once familiar and determined. Downie captures the band’s early spirit, the leader setting the pace while shaping the tone and aesthetic that pervades the record. The whole album is about the search for balance, about finding a compromise when torn between two ideals or two different perspectives. Phantom Power is crisp and harsh, abstract and clear, nonchalant and achingly real.Kyle Fowle is a writer living in Toronto. He's on Twitter.
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