![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/benphan2.jpg\")
Some artists’ strength is expressed as consistency: listeners know what to expect, and they appreciate that familiarity. Other artists, however, chart a circuitous path, with each project quite different from the last. It’s that latter approach that comes to define the work of Asheville guitarist, singer and songwriter Ben Phantom, formerly known as Ben Phan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just got tired of people misspelling and mispronouncing my name,\u201d jokes Phantom, noting that in his father’s home country of Vietnam, Phan is a common surname. But then he provides a more thoughtful reply. \u201cI’m trying to get outside myself, challenge myself and do things creatively,\u201d he explains. \u201cHaving a moniker gives me the freedom to push my limits.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Phantom’s earliest work had strong hints of Afrobeat and bluegrass. His more pop-leaning 2016 album, <\/span><\/span>Dreams in Modern Folk<\/i><\/span><\/span> features introspective lyrics written during a trek along the Pacific Crest Trail. And the title of his 2017 album emphasized Phantom’s adventurous spirit: <\/span><\/span>Fear is the Teacher<\/i><\/span><\/span> is more of a singer-songwriter album, but the finely-crafted release is immersed in the subtlety that cello, fiddle and upright bass can provide. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But along with changing his name, Phantom is steering away from the album paradigm. \u201cRight now, I’m focused on putting out singles with music videos that tell stories,\u201d he says. The first fruit of Phantom’s new multimedia approach is \u201cI’ll Meet You There.\u201d The video features Phantom working as part of a four-person modern dance ensemble. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The dancers provide a visceral, visual expression of the emotionally resonant song. \u201cI see myself as a budding videographer almost as much as I do a musician or a producer,\u201d Phantom says. His videos are less promotional tool than they are well-rounded artistic statements. \u201cMy goal with music videos is to make compelling artistic pieces in themselves,\u201d he says. \u201cI’ll Meet You There\u201d was recognized at film festivals in Florence, Italy and London. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Phantom’s current project \u2013 scheduled for release May 1 \u2013 is his most ambitious yet. The multimedia work draws from hours of video footage shot during a trip he and his father made back to Vietnam. \u201cIt was my first time there, and his first visit in 42 years,\u201d Phantom says. \u201cThe video is the story of him returning to Vietnam after all these years.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n With all live dates on hold during the pandemic, Phantom is focusing on completing the video and creating more exclusive content for his fan subscription-based Patreon page.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some artists’ strength is expressed as consistency: listeners know what to expect, and they appreciate that familiarity. Other artists, however, chart a circuitous path, with each project quite different from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3505,41],"tags":[237,3960,4187],"class_list":["post-18696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dance","category-interview","tag-asheville","tag-ben-phan","tag-ben-phantom","cat-3505-id","cat-41-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18696"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18700,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18696\/revisions\/18700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}