PUNCH BROTHERS - ANTIFOGMATIC (LP + CD)

Punch Brothers Antifogmatic On Vinyl LP + CD

Five Incredible Instrumentalists, Fantastic Songwriting, Great Vocals... DO NOT MISS THIS NEW ACOUSTIC GEM!

This is an Acoustic Masterpiece!

Antifogmatic, the follow-up to the Punch Brothers' 2008 debut, Punch, is a collaboratively written collection of songs from these "five wily, omnivorous acoutsic titans," as the Village Voice has called them, a quintet that the Washington Post, in turn, has described as "some of the best string pickers of the new generation."

Antifogmatic is seamlessly sequenced to display the collective imagination, the instrumental and vocal power, of the band: mandolinist Chris Thile, guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, banjo player Noam Pikelny, and fiddler Gabe Witcher. Though the quintet is now based in New York City, where they have an informal residency at Manhattan's The Living Room, they recorded and mixed the album at Hollywood's historic Ocean Way studio with iconoclastic producer Jon Brion (Brad Mehldau, Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, Kanye West) and engineer Greg Koller. Says Witcher, "We knew we needed a producer equally as well-versed in pop and rock as in instrumental music, and I don't think there is anyone more able to capture and communicate the essence of this material than Jon Brion."

The arrangements on Antifogmatic range from intimate to boisterous and back; genre-wise, the band once again ventures where no string band has ever gone before. The spare opening track "You Are" contrasts percussive guitar riffs with lyrical string parts that dance around Thile's sweet upper register as he spins a tale of romantic emancipation; occasionally, the other instruments give way to reveal the throb of the bass. The band also engages in some unexpectedly beautiful harmony singing, smoothing out the compelling melodic twists and turns of "Welcome Home." "Me and Us" and "Woman and the Bell" both have a dream-like quality; the former, in fact, was inspired by those jumbled, thought-filled moments before sleep sets in, and the instrumentation keeps pace with the ever-shifting imagery. In contrast, "Don't Need No" and "Rye Whiskey" are foot-stomping barroom boasts and "Next to the Trash" is the closest the band gets to traditional bluegrass, even as the lyrics tug the piece in a more surreal direction.

Punch Brothers Antifogmatic Track Listing

1.  You Are
2.  Don't Need No
3.  Alex
4.  Rye Whiskey
5.  Me and Us
6.  Missy
7.  The Woman and the Bell
8.  Next to the Trash
9.  Welcome Home
10. This Is The Song [Good Luck]