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PREMIERE: Dance away the pain of the past with Kohli Calhoun in her new clip Phantom

Recent times have been rough for Kohli Calhoun, but if history has shown us anything, it’s that dark times can produce some of the best music the world hears.

After a messy separation from the producer of her never-released debut in 2008, Calhoun fell into a downward spiral, thinking she had kissed music goodbye forever.

That is, until the lively Brooklyn scene picked her back up, and lifted this budding songwriter into a position of power once more. Since 2014 she has been writing again, letting the last eight years feed her creative output. Phantom is the latest.

kohli calhoun phantom

A powerful outpouring of emotional torment, Phantom by Kohli Calhoun is performative, peaceful and deeply personal all at once.

Phantom iterates Calhoun’s vice of persisting in her personal relationships, especially after they become unhealthy or unsustainable. Reflective of this, the song itself brings forth juxtaposed feelings of closeness and pain, drawing the listener into Calhoun’s dishevelled headspace.

Wavering, Thom Yorke vocals teeter on the edge of wails like the quiver of one’s lips before they cry. Meanwhile, Calhoun’s introspective lyricism underpins the emotional vivacity she brings forth with such a bare-all performance.

The video echoes a similar sentiment. Both extraordinarily intimate and saturated by a sense of hurt, Theresa Elwell’s dancing seems agonising at face value, yet finds a beauty in her complete devotion to the song’s ideal.

Catch Kohli Calhoun as she officially launches Phantom this Sunday, April 30 at the Ode to Babel, Brooklyn. Find the details here.