Punchy

By Johnnie

The Punch Brothers are not the next big thing in music, but I wish they would be. Their debut album entitled Punch was released on February 28th to what I’m assuming has been little to no press. I found out about it from a NPR podcast, which generally has stories about musicians singing for social awareness or other NPR worthy subjects rather than just making great music. The Punch Brothers just make great music.

Mandolin player Chris Thile of Nickel Creek fame has surrounded himself with the best upcoming bluegrass players that he could find to form the Punch Brothers. They played for a while in his small apartment in NYC and then made a record. But the great thing about the record is that it’s not bluegrass. It’s not really anything specific. There are elements of bluegrass, but the group also pulls a great deal from classical music along with shades of pop. The Punch Brothers have taken a leap away from tradition with the way they put this album together. Traditional bluegrass fans (old people) are probably not going to like it (the album is too good for their tastes) because it centers on a four movement, forty-minute suite entitled The Blind Leaving the Blind. I would have bought the album for the suite alone and maybe would have preferred having it released separately, but I’m sure there was pressure from their record label to fill in the empty space on the disc. They fill it with really, really tight tunes that are well crafted to fit the group’s sound. The first song on the album, Punch Bowl just pounds dissonant chords with impressive intensity that is distinct to the group. They create a piano sound with no piano. There are points on the record that deserve close listens a second time around because of the fantastic playing. Thile was a child prodigy who has come into his own creatively on this record. He is no longer held down to industry standards and he shows it with the Punch Brothers.

The group also seems diverse. They would be great to see twice in one night, the first time in a symphony hall wearing somewhat traditional black and playing their more classical oriented pieces and then late night in a dark bar in jeans and plaid button ups, kicking your ass with their quick licks and revisiting their bluegrass roots.

The Punch Brothers bring the complexity of a Bach fugue and intertwine it with a bluegrass sense of home. They concentrate on songs, musicianship and cohesiveness rather than tradition or history and it really pays off. This record can be listened to when you’re frying eggs on your Sunday morning, your walk home from work on Tuesday or with your pregame beer on a Friday. This record could be your stepping stone in genres that you’re missing out on. It will hug you, surround you, leave you satisfied, yet asking for more.