Feel-good acoustic pop music, a call and response dynamic and interesting, refreshingly original lyrics – Phibian connect well, blending familiarity and a fresh sense of character, for their colourful and fearlessly honest album Pantophobia.
Openly exploring themes of anxiety and negative self-reflection, the project is instantly intriguing lyrically, but also immediately calming from a musical and melodic perspective. That juxtaposition is key to embracing listeners who feel a similar level of uncertainty or anxiety, even Pantophobia, in their own lives.
Angel Olsen Took My Picture at a Sharon Van Etten Concert is the first song to extend its lostness and understanding all at once, following a spoken segment reflecting on the power of nature. The extensive title is as reminiscent of old-school emo as the lyrical back and forth within. Then as we move into the brilliant Creatures, it’s clear that the songwriting ability and unrelenting vulnerability of Phibian is something quite incomparable at present.
Stylistically we get something like an Of Monsters and Men vibe, only softer, nearly unplugged for the most part. The music is pop-rock with a folk-pop vocal realness, and the songs are quirky and self-scornful but also loaded with gratitude and optimism.
Every Morning captures that fusion of qualities well, and lifts the energy with a full-band arrangement noting keys, drums, bass, guitars, and a hugely catchy chorus. The vocals peak with soulful vibrancy, exceeding the folk softness of elsewhere, and securing the Phibian appeal as a live act.
Eleven tracks in full make up the Pantophobia album, with strong riffs, grooves and melodies all lighting up the introspective purity of the writing in a way that’s consistently comforting.
Like a Ghost is smooth, wave-like thoughts and a riding bass-line adding to a satisfying progression that’s both poetic and personal, with lush harmonies that fully immerse the listener. Then afterwards, the stripped-back melancholy of The Night Laura Died hits with unignorable poignancy, and makes for a compelling mid-album moment that begs for you to listen more than once.
That’s a noteworthy part of most of these songs, actually – that intrigue and realism in the lyrics, the melodic appeal, the emotion in the voice; it’s all subtle but hypnotic, and naturally offers a little more insight or connection with each revisit.
Some final highlights from the project include the acoustic guitar-pairing of a well-placed instrumental Chasing Fireflies, and the folk-country harmonies and hook of a cleverly relatable Won’t Stop The Rain. Then there’s the closing depth and blissful vocal unity of First Flight Out, a quietly dramatic alt-folk curtain call, with musical delicacy and emotional weight carefully intertwined.
As mentioned, there’s a lot to love about this album, and that’s easy to appreciate from the outset, but it also seems to grow more true as you listen back through the songs a second time. And that’s the key to longevity for indie bands – music that urges you to come back, time and time again.
Pantophobia is a beautifully raw and genuinely human album, with wonderful songwriting and vocal harmonies elevating a pure acoustic to pop-rock sound. The band Phibian are a welcomed breath of realism amidst the current rise of AI music and mass-electronic production, and on that mildly dystopian note, I highly recommend the album Pantophobia.
Find Phibian on Instagram.
