Like every Punch Brothers album, The Phosphorescent Blues is defined by technical chops. But its lyrical focus offers a vibrant edge over its predecessors.
The Phosphorescent Blues is an album filled with disarming, beautiful moments.
The Phosphorescent Blues is a wildly varied album that finds Punch Brothers once again pushing their classic string band/bluegrass instrumentation into weird musical arenas far outside what’s typical for this sort of lineup.
The Punch Brothers sound as comfortable nimbly skipping through classical pieces as they do creating oddly shaped bluegrass-prog -- and as they do creating sparkling pop miniatures
With The Phosphorescent Blues, they show once again that they are just about the boldest and most versatile acoustic bands around.
His spirit of adventure, and his dedicated commitment to extending the instrument as far as it can go, could find itself in difficult territory, but instead underscores elegant and nimble songs that are intricate in their beauty and restless in their heartbreak.
It makes for an intriguing, though at times overcomplex and unfocused, blend.
[Genre: Bluegrass]
To my surprise, I actually quite liked this album. I thought there were quite a few really great tracks on here (the 10 minute track is fantastic), and the sound is very acoustic and sweet. However, with another near half of the album being purely instrumentals with not all that much happening in them, the album becomes a tad bit forgettable at times and a bit messy. Apart from that, great stuff.
favourite tracks: Familiarity, I Blew It Off, Magnet, Little Lights
least ... read more
One of my favorites of the 2010s - Chris Thile and company use bluegrass as a reference point but really create something brand new out of it on nearly every song. The adventurism really is the selling point, as on "Magnet," which fuses Bluegrass with an uptempo rock arrangement that gives Thile plenty of space to weave his nimble mandolin arrangements through. There are of course many other moments of super showy instrumentation (the whole thing starts with a rapid arpeggio figure), ... read more
These guys are breathing life into one of my favourite genres which admitedly has been dead for years. While my Fav Chris project is still Deciever this is an incredible testament to the power of bluegrasses minimaism and I hope it inspires a new generation of players to take the art form up.
see my review for feeling young now. this band makes a serious case for bluegrass music in the modern age. lyrically, chris thile manages to make “phone bad, internet bad” music that doesn’t sound like some random washed up musician giving their crappy two cents on the matter because (1) he’s not a washed up old musician, he’s a pioneer and always attending to his craft, and (2) is able to have a nuanced perspective that ISN’T just “phone bad, internet ... read more
the middle of familiarity gives me goosebumps every time and its been a year or more since I first heard it
Going on a journey back through the first albums I rated on this site. This was my very first rating during February of
2015 it looks like. I joined in 2013 (nearly 10 years ago) and I'm not sure if I didnt rate anything up until now or deleted my ratings before this.
Haven't been super engaged with this community in many years so I don't even know who the big players are anymore but I'll be more active for a bit, maybe a while, so join me on this journey if you want!
This album is special ... read more
1 | Familiarity 10:22 | 85 |
2 | Julep 5:26 | |
3 | Passepied (Debussy) 3:29 | |
4 | I Blew It Off 3:06 | |
5 | Magnet 3:13 | |
6 | My Oh My 4:18 | |
7 | Boll Weevil 2:36 | |
8 | Prélude (Scriabin) 0:57 | |
9 | Forgotten 4:17 | |
10 | Between 1st and A 4:15 | |
11 | Little Lights 4:42 |
#26 | / | Diffuser |
#46 | / | American Songwriter |