{"id":3021,"date":"2011-08-03T13:40:11","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T20:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3021"},"modified":"2011-08-03T13:40:11","modified_gmt":"2011-08-03T20:40:11","slug":"punch-brothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/punch-brothers\/","title":{"rendered":"PUNCH BROTHERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

PUNCH BROTHERS<\/h1>\n

Chris Thile\u2019s boundary-breaking crew shakes itself to see what\u2019s inside<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If bands were in the habit of adopting stretches of highway, Punch Brothers would probably choose one that was all left turns. The hot-picking\u00a0bluegrass-classical-jazz ensemble\u2019s sophomore album, Antifogmatic<\/em>, is full of melodic and rhythmic twists that defy convention at every chance. \u201cMusical expression is by nature abstract,\u201d explains mandolin player and lead vocalist Chris Thile, who established his reputation in the more traditional trio Nickel Creek. \u201cIt\u2019s a fragile tonality that Punch Brothers employ. I love giving people something that seems very stable, and then whipping the rug out from underneath them. I hope the record is a little bit of a choose-your-own-adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whereas the New York City-based quintet\u2019s 2008 debut, Punch<\/em>, was built around Thile\u2019s extended suite \u201cThe Blind Leaving the Blind,\u201d the new album is a decidedly collective effort written by the band\u2014which also includes banjo player Noam Pikelny, guitarist Chris Eldridge, bass player Paul Kowert and violinist Gabe Witcher. \u201cThe music is very collaborative,\u201d says Pikelny. \u201cWe all love songs that really take you from Point A to Point B. We were very much there for feedback for each other to be able to try a million ideas. You have five guys who were willing to try anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, Antifogmatic<\/em> is a far cry from the members\u2019 previous bands\u2014which might throw off some old Nickel Creek fans. \u201cI think it has been frustrating for us as a band to deal with the \u2018Chris Thile of Nickel Creek\u2019 thing,\u201d says Thile. \u201cI wanted collaborators. I wanted guys who are completely invested\u00a0artistically.\u201d One listen to Antifogmatic<\/em> bears out that approach. Traditional bluegrass swerves suddenly into chamber-quintet passages, wanders into rich stacked jazz harmonies or settles into improvisational grooves that spotlight the group\u2019s crackerjack session-player chops and\u00a0wide-ranging influences. \u201cWe\u2019re fanatical about Bartok, in particular Concerto for Orchestra<\/em> and String Quartet No. 5<\/em>,\u201d notes Thile. \u201cAnd Radiohead.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what of that strange title? \u201cAntifogmatic\u201d is a 19th-century term for a stiff drink used to ward off inclement weather. \u201cIt\u2019s a fairly whiskey-soaked affair, overall,\u201d says Thile of the album. \u201cBut that\u2019s a nod to the liquid culture here in New York City. Not actually the sloppy drunk, but rather a loosening, sort of shaking yourself. It\u2019s like the present on Christmas morning, you sort of shake it to see what\u2019s in there\u2014and occasionally you break things when you\u00a0do that!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Bob Cannon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PUNCH BROTHERS Chris Thile\u2019s boundary-breaking crew shakes itself to see what\u2019s inside If bands were in the habit of adopting stretches of highway, Punch Brothers would probably choose one that was all left turns. The hot-picking\u00a0bluegrass-classical-jazz ensemble\u2019s sophomore album, Antifogmatic, is full of melodic and rhythmic twists that defy convention at every chance. \u201cMusical expression […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[80,2277,10156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3023,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021\/revisions\/3023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}