Antifogmatic

by Punch Brothers

Overview

Mandolin player and singer Chris Thile's band Punch Brothers may have a standard bluegrass lineup also including a guitar, banjo, fiddle, and bass, but if their music fits into the bluegrass category at all, it's only because of that instrumentation. On their debut, Punch, and this follow-up, Antifogmatic (said to be a word referring to a 19th century alcoholic drink thought to be a cure for bad weather), Punch Brothers play in a style beyond the "contemporary bluegrass" or even "newgrass" tags; "progressive bluegrass" (as in "progressive rock") might be closer to the mark, or even "avant-garde bluegrass." On Punch, Thile introduced a four-part, 40-minute suite called "Blind Leading the Blind." If nothing on Antifogmatic is quite that ambitious, nevertheless in track after track Thile leads the band through labyrinthine arrangements that shift tempos and instrument groupings, over which he sings abstract lyrics in a slightly disembodied high tenor voice. It all has the quality of a dream or, on the cosmically comic "Next to the Trash," of novelty music. By the end, in "This Is the Song (Good Luck)," Thile is acknowledging current economic challenges in a way that recalls the Depression Era origins of bluegrass, as he sings, "These are tough times, but we'll get by." It's an unusually down-to-earth sentiment after an album full of music and words that have seemed up in the clouds (or lost in the fog). ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	08/10/2010
Label:	Nonesuch
UPC:	0075597978704
Rank:	67853

Tracks

Disc 1

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)

Disc 2

11. You Are
12. Don't Need No
13. Alex
14. Rye Whiskey
15. Me and Us
16. Missy
17. The Woman and the Bell
18. Next To the Trash
19. Welcome Home
20. This is the Song (Good Luck)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Punch Brothers   Primary Artist
Gabe Witcher   Fiddle,Vocals
Noam Pikelny   Banjo,Vocals
Chris Thile   Vocals,Mandolin
Chris Eldridge   Guitar,Vocals
Paul Kowert   Bass,Vocals

Technical Credits

Brett Ryder   Illustrations
Gabe Witcher   Mixing,Group Member
Fiona Apple   Composer
Greg Koller   Mixing,Engineer
Jon Brion   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Jesse Fuller   Composer
Rob Moose   Arranger
Punch Brothers   Arranger,Composer
Darol Anger   Composer
Noam Pikelny   Composer,Group Member
Greg Garrison   Composer
Chris Thile   Composer,Group Member
Robert Hurwitz   Executive Producer
Chris Eldridge   Group Member
Paul Kowert   Group Member
Alan Yoshida   Mastering
C. Taylor Crothers   Photography
Eric Cadieux   Editing
Rouble Kapoor   Assistant Engineer
Evan Gaffney   Art Direction
Traditional   Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach   Composer