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It’s hard to believe that Chris Thile’s band the Punch Brothers has gone on as long as it has. What was once supposed to be a one-off solo project has grown into a decade old group of musicians that has explored sounds previously unheard of in bluegrass with only the core five bluegrass utensils at their disposal. From Radiohead covers, to blistering instrumentals, to jarring; bordering on idiosyncratic motifs, the punch brothers have constantly brought something new to the table on the instrumental front. On their newest project, All Ashorei, it seems the endless timbral and mood variety Thile was able to bring to the group has been spent on Thile’s side project ‘Live From Here’ (formerly A Prairie Home Companion), which features Thile covering pop covers and writing originals weekly to keep his new immense audience satisfied. For their newest record Thile and the rest of the group rely on groove, simpler melodies, and political themes as crutches to make up for a lack of newly discovered terrain.
For first time listeners, tracks like “All Ashore” will come off as otherworldly adventures where structure and depth can be twisted and molded by the performers’ whim. The tremolo of Chris Thile and banjo chords played by Noam Pikelny introduces a hollow high timbre that is suddenly plummeted by the bowed bass. These long strokes and tremolos aren’t given structure until Chris Eldridge’s guitar comes in, soon followed by Thile’s fragile falsetto. “The Angel of Doubt” continues the trend of fast paced multi-faceted second tracks which started with Antifogmatic’s “Don’t Need No”. This track begins in general Punch Brother’s fashion but sliding scurrying banjo transcends us into A Chris Thile Freestyle which doesn’t come off as bad as it possibly could, mostly thanks to the subtle off beat runs by Eldridge and Paul Kowert in the background.
While this album doesn’t reinvent the wheel, its instrumentals are more intriguing than their previous attempts to translate their instrumental brilliance into well… instrumentals. Possibly this is because both are named after alcoholic beverages. “Three Dots and a Dash” is a perfect example of tension and release and what different phrase lengths can do to a piece. The banjo fiddle break separates and comes together so effortlessly as well it is clear these guys have been playing together for ages. “Jungle Bird” begin with a guitar banjo unison and again used off kilter rhythmic and changes to create perfect tension and release between the guitar and banjo intro and the fiddle tune second part.
On their most recent release ‘The Wireless’ Thile and Co. seemed to be concerned about a personal subject of electronic use running rampant. On ‘All Ashore’s’ fourth track “Just Look at this mess”, they are talking about a man running rampant who “Lies like the colors of the rainbow” A head bobbing tempo created by Kowert creates a platform for Thile to mourn our countries new president. Thile’s strategy? “Don’t let him put you off your game/ with his hey batter batter swing” Wise words, but it seems like Thile’s dedication to heavy handed lyrics at the sake of grace with the way some these lines land shows that he might not be following his own advice. This song pairs well with the other two political tracks on the album. The deceptively cheerful “Jumbo” describes a man who “Grown up strong on the fat of the land of the free” and a man “With a knife and tan”. If that wasn’t enough Jumbo is
clearly an allusion to the elephant in the Republican logo. The cheery disposition creates a Randy Newman like dissonance that Thile hasn’t quite mastered. Lastly, “It’s all Part of the Plan” is from the man who must not be named’s perspective and doesn’t hold pack in its characterization of him. When referencing the devil Thile writes, “Cause I’m in charge now and he isn’t/and it isn’t anybody’s business but mine/ Everybody’s business is mine” but the ominous words of “You can Never get the best of what you can never get enough of” are song backed by Eldrige and Kowert as if narrating our current political predicament.
None of these nine tracks stand out as unique or as a massive accomplishment in relation to their discography but for new listeners this is a fine place to start. But if one is inclined to go back, they will find a band with more instrumental zeal, no political monkey on their back and a plethora of material very few bands and players could match.
