Phat A$tronaut Heads For The Stars

“I Wanna Know (Part 1),” from Phat A$tronuat’s latest release, The Fifth Dimension, start with lush chords constructed from a mellow guitar and electronics. It’s a sound for floating in space — and that’s before the stacked, harmonized vocals glide in, a transmission from a satellite.

“I want to know / what’s important to you,” the voices croon. ​“I need to know, it is / the big things, the little words? / Tell me what is your truth? / So maybe I can see things clearer.”

That’s when the groove drops in, the music expands, and the vocals take off. By the end of the first verse, the song’s engines are on full burn, as a saxophone and chorus of vocals give way to a rapped verse spat over swooning synthesizers. It’s all somehow serene and energetic at the same time, searching yet reassuring, the sound a band can make when it has figured out what it is — yet is still growing.

This makes sense, given that the New Haven-based band — Chad Browne-Springer on vocals, Mark Lyon on guitar, Mike Russo on bass, Dylan McDonnell on flute and sax, Mike Knobloch on auxiliary percussion, Jeremiah Fuller on keys, Tim Walsh on drums, and Elizabeth Dellinger and Ruth Onyirimba on backup vocals — has been appearing steadily on stages in New Haven and elsewhere since the release of the group’s debut in January 2017. The Fifth Dimension repeats a couple songs from that debut, including ​“I Wanna Know,” ​“Greene Eyes,” and ​“Motherland.”

But in each case the return to these songs is warranted. They’re strong songs, and the versions on The Fifth Dimension show how much the band has dug into them since last January. On ​“Greene Eyes” the groove is deeper. ​“I Wanna Know” is spacier, even without the previous version’s incantation of the Mothership. And ​“Motherland” is particularly revelatory, as the rhythms are both tighter and more complex, the vocals more jubilant.

And then there are the new songs, which show where Phat A$tronaut is headed. ​“Front Row” swings on a double-jointed drumbeat, using both jazz hits and rock guitar sounds to make a song that’s hard to sit still to. ​“Puppy Love” feels like a cool summer breeze, made sardonic in the context of Browne-Springer’s lyrics, which may or may not be talking about an actual canine.

In the midst of Phat A$tronaut’s complex yet accessible sound is Browne-Springer, front and center as both the group’s lyricist and riotously talented lead vocalist. He can switch from a croon to a rap with the drop of a bar line, but it’s on ​“Something About You” that he really gets his time to shine. Using a series of overdubs — it’s hard to say exactly how many — Browne-Springer constructs a band out of his voice alone. A simple bass line starts it off. A harmony drops in. A voice croons out the title of the song. Another voice joins in. Another, another, building a lush chorus. Then comes the lead vocal, moving at something more like the speed of hip hop.

“You can sign me up,” he begins. ​“whatever you got, yeah, I want it.” The harmonies get denser as the song gains energy. Voices rise and fall, moving in and out of one another. Then it all opens out into peaceful, echoing voices that drift off, as if into — you guessed it — outer space. Phat A$tronaut has traveled far since lifting off last year. The Fifth Dimension suggests the band’s voyage has just begun.