Phantom Planet to reform

Thu 29th Dec, 2011 in International News

Power-pop guilty pleasures Phantom Planet are back after a three year hiatus. The band, best known for the Zeitgeist-riding hit California (later desecrated by TV show The OC and sampled to polarizing effect by rapper K-OS), didn’t really split up so much as fade out after the release of their underrated 2008 album, Raise The Dead. Now, they’re fading back in, with footage of a recent rehearsal surfacing, along with the creation of a Twitter account, @phantomreunion.

During his band’s hiatus, lead singer Alex Greenwald was a busy bee indeed, lending his talents to Mark Ronson’s Record Collection as well as forming supergroup JJAMZ with members of Maroon 5, The Like and Rilo Kiley. At this stage, it is unclear whether awkwardly sexy actor and founding member Jason Schwartzman will be involved; Schwartzman previously left the band in amicable circumstances due to his flourishing acting career, but with HBO recently cancelling his show Bored To Death, a return to the fold shouldn’t be ruled out.