Megalophobe

Born from collaborative sessions with Gridfailure’s David Brenner in 2016, MEGALOPHOBE began as an accident and developed as an experiment. It persists as a question. Using a thrift store accordion outfitted with makeshift electronics, NYC based Benjamin Levitt builds loosely organized soundscapes around the central challenge of scoring anthems for the frontier between disquietude and dread.

Every noise the accordion makes, the mechanical sounds of the opening and closing of the internal works of the accordion, air passing through the bellows out the exhaust valves, the sorrowful drone of the reeds, is pulled through layers of distortion and mixed with electronics, guitars, and processed field recordings. From minimalist drones, to overwhelming waves of feedback and off-kilter melodies, MEGALOPHOBE obsessively seeks out the feeling of watching the vertiginous lilt of a docked aircraft carrier.

After the rich territory discovered in those early recording sessions, MEGALOPHOBE took on a life of its own and released its debut solo EP megalophobe in late 2017, following the collaborative album Dendritic, with Gridfailure earlier that year.