Album Review Punch Brothers, Punch

YYY Good Album

Going off and trying something new is always a risky venture. When someone leaves a popular group, we expect two things from them. One, we expect that they will continue sounding exactly like they sounded in the old group and two, we hate them if they do not sound exactly like they sounded in their old group. Chris Thile was one third of the super popular pop bluegrass group Nickel Creek, and their youth and love for pop music and bluegrass (if you have ever seen them do a bluegrass version Britney Spears in their live show you know exactly what I am talking about), helped usher in a revival of American roots music. Now personally, I like my bluegrass songs to be about two/three minutes of pickin’ and grinnin’ tops and then move on to the next song for more of the same. In his new group, the Punch Brothers, Thile continues to play bluegrass, but this time he takes on loftier music styles than pop; he is now playing classical bluegrass; Gershwin meets Bill Monroe. If you are looking for a Nickel Creek sound alike you might be disappointed. Not to say this record is disappointing, all the songs are well written, arranged and played by the “brothers” who are some of the most talented and sought after players in bluegrass. The record starts off with Punch Bowl, giving us exactly what we looking for, a three minutes pop bluegrass song. After that, he jumps into part one of The Blind Leaving the Blind, a four part movement of songs ranging anywhere from eight to twelve minutes long and almost no pickin’ and grinnin’. Here the talent of the musicians comes out and the ambitiousness of the compositions takes over. I think that he is intentionally trying to take us away from the Chris who wrote songs and introduce us to the Chris who is the composer. However, in these lengthy movements his lyrics seem to be incomplete and get lost in the arrangements and I get the sense that perhaps he is waiting for the other two singers to come into the studio to record their parts. So kudos to Chris for branching out, but you’ll have to forgive me, I think I need a bit more time. Until then, I think I’ll be a fickle fan, now, who wants to hear Foggy Mountain Breakdown?