PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS: ALBUM REVIEW
Cover of PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS, THE BALLAD OF JACKIE DANDELION (DIRECTORS CUT).
It all started with a simple question.
“Do you have any favorite Irish artists you’re listening to at the moment?”
The camera cut between the four boys, perched on a waterfront wall for their interview, squinting a little in the sun. The bandmates went back and forth, firing off names of artists that I had never heard of. Bees and Sawdust. Esmeralda Road. Bricknasty. Big Sleep. Telebox. And Kojaque, Kojaque, Kojaque. They kept coming back to that last one.
“I’ve listened to PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS cover to cover at least a hundred and fifty times,” one of them raved, the others laughing. “I love you so much.”
I laughed along, charmed by their enthusiasm and intrigued by their recommendations, and saved the video to come back to another time.
Six months and many other Genuine Irish interviews later, I know the catalogues of the artists mentioned in the thirty-one seconds of that video by heart. And now I, too, am here to tell you just why Kojaque’s PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS is one of the best albums I’ve listened to not just in 2024, but in my entire musical catalogue.
“Took the boy out of the city, put the city on the map.”
In strict summary, PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS is the fourth album by Irish artist Kojaque. Released in 2023, with a deluxe edition following in 2024, the album fuses Kojaque’s signature blend of indie, jazz, and hip-hop into something completely of its own character.
Album cover for Deli Daydreams (2018)
PHANTOM is a marked change from Kojaque’s previous records. His first work, the acclaimed Deli Daydreams, was a concept album which catapulted him onto the scene back in 2018. His third album, the biting Town’s Dead, was met with similar acclaim in 2021. PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS is both of these albums distilled to their purest essence, made smooth with years of gained experience. It captures the best of his work-–the comedic interludes, the theatricality, the crisp elocution and hammering verse-–and ties it all into one perfect album.
And it is inescapably an album. PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS demands to be listened to in its totality. Even with its oscillations of energy and subject matter, song after song translates flawlessly into one another, rolling from one track into the next like a well-trod footpath. In a behind-the-scenes production video, Kojaque explains how he wove elements from each of his songs into the others; this interconnected nature, he says, of pulling notes and aspects of one song into another is what differentiates an “album” from a collection of songs.
This behind-the-scenes footage also reveals Kojaque as someone deeply in tune not just with the national or global music scene, but with the stream of time. PHANTOM’s work incorporates living and dead inspiration, pulling from a deep well of 60s soul, funk, and electronic tracks, and making use of Kojaque’s extensive musical connections as collaborators. Kojaque is truly a Renaissance Man of the Irish music scene; he is involved in every facet, from business to production to performance.
“This is a final call for passenger Jackie Dandelion.”
PHANTOM begins with the introduction of Jackie Dandelion, a fictionalized version of Kojaque himself. A reference to Jackie Down the Line by fellow Irish band Fontaines D.C., Dandelion is the epitome of an Irish stereotype. PHANTOM is Kojaque’s first project released since his move to London during quarantine, and the character spiraled from the prejudice and conceptions of Irish people he encountered after emigrating from Dublin.
Still from the CABRA DRIVE music video, showing Kojaque portraying Jackie Dandelion.
Kojaque refers to the record as the process of taking off a mask. PHANTOM opens with the introduction of Jackie Dandelion, a fictionalized Kojaque who is the “epitome of an Irish stereotype.” A reference to a song by Fontaines D.C., the character spiraled from the prejudice and misconceptions of Irish people the artist encountered after emigrating to London from Dublin. Each track deals with the struggle of building up or breaking down of Dandelion’s warring facades, whether it be the distant lover, the naive son, the dissatisfied teen, the isolated immigrant, or the famous artist.
Despite the serious subject matter, PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS is also just fun.
Kojaque tugs you along unceasingly through the tracklist, through the boundless confidence of “Larry Bird before the growth spurt,” the crushing blow of “and half the time, it's like it's me I'm really running from,” the heartache of “You're what London city's missing / My heart's been half poured, let it settle for a minute now.” Even the darkest songs are undeniably catchy, with lyrics that have pulled both tears and inappropriately loud laughter from me in subsequent moments. Adlibs and voice memos are woven into the record, adding levity to WHAT IF? and triggering the downward spiral of COVENT GARDENS.
Sometimes eerily solitary, other times rattling with a cacophony that seems to close in from every side, PHANTOM oscillates between emotions but remains heartbreakingly honest to its core.
It is an album about growing up too fast, about stumbling in shoes too big for you to fill, about missing people and “the shit [you] used to have but never used to want.” It’s about never feeling at home, in a new city or your old town. It’s about getting in too deep, about feeling disconnected from the world around you, and so desperately wanting to pull yourself back into it. It’s about the obsessive, intoxicating force of fame, the destruction it brings and the desperation to get another glimpse of it. It’s about building confidence, destroying it, and rebuilding it again until it sticks.
It’s about realizing what haunts you, whether it be family or future, love or fame, or even your own self, and about realizing that you don’t need to haunt your own life.
“But I'm history in the making, ain't ya heard of destiny?”
To this day, it is difficult for me to select a single favorite track from this record. From blaring hard-hitters CITIZEN KANE and LONDON LIDO on my walk to class, humming the chorus of WHAT IF? on an October road trip, or waking from a dream with Sammy Copley’s haunting final interlude lingering in my thoughts, the forty-six minutes of this album have flowed through my headphones and my brain again and again. And yet, this album remains almost impossible to pin down.
PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS feels massive, all encompassing. It grips your full attention from the first whisperings of LARRY BIRD and has you straining for the last note of HEAVEN SHOULDN’T HAVE YOU. It is infectious; it has a way of sinking under your skin, settling in the folds of your brain, and manifesting again as tapping fingers, repeating hums, and looping lines. It is far and away the best album I have listened to in the last year.
So, in strict summary, PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS is simply a deeply funny, heart wrenchingly personal, and inherently human record, and my favorite album of 2024. Kojaque himself said it best: You just have to play it out, over and over.
Thank you for reading this album review and supporting college radio! A special thank you to Telebox and the wonderful people at Genuine Irish for being the crux of my entire deep dive into the Irish music scene. I cannot stress enough that I am forever in your debt. Keep up the amazing work.
If you are interested in further broadening your indie and alternative horizons, tune in to my radio show STARBURST! on WVUM 90.5 FM. Any University of Miami students interested in getting involved with the blog or anyone passionate about up-and-coming artists to look out for can DM me on Instagram @starburst.905 or email us at blog@wvum.org. Keep it Locked <3