Nonesuch

Of all the acts who’ve popped up during the great bluegrass revival of the post O Brother, Where Art Thou? era, few hold a candle to The Punch Brothers in terms of ingenuity and originality.

Here is a band whose members can play Kid A era Radiohead on their stringed instruments as deftly as they can Bach without missing a single note. They also have a penchant for pairing up with some of the best producers in the biz—recording with classical music production master Steve Epstein for their 2008 debut Punch, the great Jon Brion for their 2009 LP Antifogmatic and current alt-rock studio maven Jacquire King (Cold War Kids, Modest Mouse, Tom Waits, Kings of Leon) for 2012’s Who’s Feeling Young Now?

For The Phosphorescent Blues, the quintet employ the services of Mr. T-Bone Burnett, fresh off his work on the solo debut of fellow Nonesuch recording artist Rhiannon Giddens as well as Lost in the River by the New Basement Tapes. One wonders how T-Bone can go from working with the likes of such obvious pretenders as Marcus Mumford and Jim James to collaborating with such young masters of their craft as Chris Thile (mandolin), Gabe Witcher (fiddle/violin), Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris Eldridge (guitar) and Paul Kowert (bass) without losing an ounce of his soul in transition. One could surmise he’s charging Mumford & Sons the premium rate for his services to afford himself the time to work with the Brothers on their fourth Nonesuch LP. It only seems right and natural, doesn’t it?

Nevertheless, under the watchful eye and loving hand of T-Bone, this 11-song set establishes perhaps the firmest middle ground separating their skills in both craftsmanship and technical dexterity as both songwriters and musicians than anything they’ve previously released, evidenced on the strength of such jubilant, catchy material as “Magnet”, “I Blew It Off” and the Steely Dan-esque “Between 1st and A”. Yet, at the same time, the band’s firm handle on what could only be described as “grassical” is clearly evident in their spot-on interpretations of both Claude Debussy’s “The Passepied” from his Suite Bergamasque and “Prelude” by renowned early 20th century Russian composer Alexander ikolayevich Scriabin.

However, both elements of the Punch Brothers journey into sound coalesces through the course of the logical centerpiece on The Phosphorescent Blues entitled “Familiarity”, a ten-minute movement in three parts that finds middle ground between Thom Yorke’s “The Eraser” and The Beach Boys’ “Surf’s Up.”

With T-Bone at the controls, looks like the Punch Brothers have punched up their finest work to date. And I’m sure for Burnett, working on a gem such as this proved to be the ultimate artistic palate cleanser.