Phobia

Phobia is a highly programmatic work that is born from a dream, more specifically, a nightmare. As the person lies down to sleep and drifts off (symbolized by the solo vibraphone at the beginning of the song) they drift into a restless sleep, worrying about their fears. We begin with the fear of the dark, where the person tosses and turns and gets increasingly restless due to the figures they think they see in the shadows. After a great deal of tossing and turning, their nightmare takes off, as they find themselves being chased by a faceless thing. They think they've escaped but find themselves facing the fear of being hunted by whatever is following them. After leaping off a ledge to escape the thing, the nightmare continues as they plunge beneath the water and need to face their fear of drowning in the sweeping waves. After surviving the rapids, they find themselves once again being chased by the "thing" before falling off a cliff and facing their fear of falling. As they fall seemingly forever, they see the face of rocks they are about to hit, and with tears in their eyes and sweat pouring from their forehead, the person wakes up bolt upright in their bed, having awoken just moments before crashing into the rocks below.