Pantophobia by Phibian
The name “Pantophobia” comes from a line in "A Charlie Brown Christmas". Lucy, for a modest fee, attempts to diagnose Charlie Brown by listing off a number of potential phobias he may have. She concludes that he has pantophobia, which is an intense and irrational fear of literally everything. She nails it.
That stuck with me for some reason. The term itself is ridiculous and not officially diagnosable, but the inference isn’t too far off. There is a constant, perceived anxiety in the air at all times. The word sounded funny and looked good on paper, but it sadly never felt like an exaggeration. It felt eerily prescient and it soon became a running theme throughout the record.
When we came back into the music scene (if you’d even call it a comeback) we knew we wanted to approach the whole “band” thing with a different tone. We swore to ourselves that we wouldn’t stress it too hard and that we'd make a conscious decision to simply let the band exist. The reason our previous band Wintervals ended was because we pushed it and ourselves too hard and expected too much; we were never satisfied. That band ended on a sour note, typifying everything we hated about music and being part of a working and consistently disappointed band. We took the next eight years off.
Our soft return happened in 2020 as the newly rebranded Phibian. Ideally, this would be a band with a much more lax style. We released our first record (“Phibiosity”) under the new banner in February 2024. We made it with the intent of matching our live shows: wholly acoustic with layered guitars, sturdy bass playing and some other random instruments thrown in for fun. I like the record just fine, but the whole was somehow less than the sum of its parts.
Fast forward to late 2024: we reconnect with Andy Bishop at Giraffe Studio. We knew we wanted the follow-up record to be different and he’d help us get there. We wanted it to sound bigger and stronger than the last, mostly for our own sake. We made the last minute decision to add drums to “Pantophobia” and thank god for that. It turned out to be one of the key elements missing from “Phibiosity”. The result, I think, was a statement.
In the days leading up to the completion of the record, I felt an elation I hadn't felt in a while. I believe the key to happiness as a musician is in letting go of all your inhibitions. There’s always going to be that impending, proverbial fear of everything, but it all has to lead somewhere good eventually.
- Trevor Walker (April 4, 2025)
Tracklist
| 1. | Prelude to the Season | 0:28 |
| 2. | Angel Olsen Took My Picture at a Sharon Van Etten Concert | 3:47 |
| 3. | Creatures | 3:52 |
| 4. | Every Morning | 3:28 |
| 5. | Like a Ghost | 3:33 |
| 6. | The Night Laura Died | 4:06 |
| 7. | Only Child | 3:05 |
| 8. | Chasing Fireflies | 2:06 |
| 9. | Won't Stop the Rain | 3:57 |
| 10. | Leaving, IL | 2:20 |
| 11. | First Flight Out | 3:24 |
Credits
All songs written, recorded, performed and produced by Phibian at home Sept 2022 - Nov 2023.
Except “Prelude to the Season” which contains excerpts of “Raking Leaves” from The Great Gildersleeve (originally released October 7th, 1945).
Mixing, mastering and additional recording by Andy Bishop at Giraffe Studio in Hendersonville, NC, Oct 2024 - April 2025.
Front cover “Little River" by Trevor Walker.
Design by Trevor Walker.
