Ben Pagano

Ben Pagano is a NYC-based songwriter, keyboardist, and producer who has been writing and releasing music for the past 15 years. It was around 2010 while studying theater when he stumbled upon Sidewalk Cafe in the Lower East Side and quickly immersed himself in the legendary antifolk scene, where he would perform his then off-the-wall and energetic theatrical performances. He eventually formed a band, The Space Machine, performing regularly in the Brooklyn DIY music scene during the twilight of house venues and artist-centric run spaces. With the band, he released three albums: Robot Jazz (2014), Forms (2017), and Exploring Dreams (2022). At the height of the pandemic, Pagano shifted his sound in a more solo direction, beginning to compose and produce music from home. The songs continued to grow in depth and musical and emotional complexity over time, forming his newest album, Drifting. It was recorded mostly in his living room and at Rad Hazard Studios in Brooklyn, NY, run by longtime friend, collaborator, and Space Machine guitarist Tom McCaffrey, over six years beginning in 2020. In these songs there is a deep exploration of detachment and how one copes with intense emotions and catastrophic feelings, and eventually comes into their own.