phish

Photo by Danny Clinch

Phish unveil new album Evolve and announce tour dates, including next week’s sold-out four-show run at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

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The Vermont quartet's twelfth LP might be their best studio effort since Billy Breathes.

Album

Phish
Feugo

For their latest studio album, Phish tried something they’ve never done before. Instead of leaving the bulk of the writing to guitarist Trey Anastasio and lyricist (and unofficial fifth member) Tom Marshall, they locked themselves in Anastasio’s barn in the Vermont woods and hashed out the tunes. Then they surprised everyone at their Halloween show by playing the entire album (plus a few more tunes) as their “musical costume.” The move surprised even the most jaded Phans.

With the exception of the title track (recorded in part during a soundcheck during the Halloween run), the band leaves behind longer explorations and focuses on developing sonic landscapes. These tunes will inevitably evolve over the next tour. (Anastasio has mentioned that the band wants to focus less on playing covers.) Producer Bob Ezrin, whose fingerprints are all over albums by everyone from Taylor Swift to Pink Floyd, gives the band a wider sound, utilizing each member to their full potential and spreading around vocal duties a bit more. Keyboardist Page McConnell's vocals on the slyly grooving “Halfway to the Moon” are a perfect balance for Anastasio’s warbly tremolo fills.

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