Track Listing

1. Punch Bowl
2. The Blind Leaving the Blind Mvt 1
3. The Blind Leaving the Blind Mvt 2
4. The Blind Leaving the Blind Mvt 3
5. The Blind Leaving the Blind Mvt 4
6. Sometimes
7. Nothing, Then
8. It'll Happen

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39079 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Daily Telegraph, February 28, 2008
"...The virtuoso sophistication of the Punch Brothers is redefining a traditional genre,.." - Ivan Hewett

The Word Magazine, 2007
'Can anyone, anywhere, play anything any better than Chris Thile plays the mandolin? (Clue: they can't.)

Songlines magazine, April/May 2008 (issue #51)
Anyone who's witnessed Chris Thile at work on the mandolin knows that his brand of avant-bluegrass has often veered dangerously close to some of the excesses of jazz and even - dare we say it? - prog. Inevitably, anyone with his jaw-dropping ability would never be content to endlessly trot out reels. But is Punch, centred around a four-part, 32-minute mood-piece about his failed marriage (`The Blind Leaving The Blind') a step too far? Thankfully the answer is a resounding no.
Punch Brothers are a five-piece, with Thile joined by old friends on fiddle (Gabe Witcher), banjo (Noam Pikelny), bass (Greg Garrison) and guitar (Chris Eldridge). Each player is every inch the match of Thile. The 26-year-old has talked about how Punch is not just a document of a divorce but a loss of innocence. And playfully discordant opener, `Punch Bowl' sets the scene. There's a bitter heart to this album. `The Blind...' is largely instrumental, yet its intricate changes of pace divide episodic verses that drip with both knotty metaphor and confessional wisdom. Despite references to late night drinking and sorrow, you're left with an undeniable feeling of the resilience of the spirit, finding salvation through the healing power of music. This is therapy, but of the kind that you feel privileged to witness. No longer can we just marvel at Thile's precociousness. With Punch he's a fully matured artist. And if he can turn such a low point into something so beautiful then goodness knows where he'll be in ten years time. For now Punch is his masterpiece.
Chris Jones

Customer Reviews

Another great album from Chris Thile
This is one of those albums that stays in your CD player for weeks after you buy it. The structure of the four part "Blind Leaving the Blind" is astounding. The whole album feels like it will never stop moving - the songs melt into each other. I can't describe it! If you liked his Nickel Creek stuff and his other albums like "Deceiver" and "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" you'll love this :) If you've never heard him before start perhaps with Nickel Creek's "Why should the Fire Die?"

Cracking stuff :)Buy it and support one of the greatest living artists of our time!

Enlarging the palette
I loved previous Thile effort 'how to grow a woman from the ground' and was keen to hear latest effort with the now permanent line-up of Pikelny, Witcher, Eldridge & Kowert under the name of 'The Punch Brothers'.
Reviews warned that a good few listens would be neccessary before forming an opinion. The 4 suite composition 'the blind leaving the blind' is described by Thile as being "like a string quintet, there are parts that read like a jazz lead sheet. There is plenty of improvising and lots of stuff that is loosely dictated". I'm no jazz fan, but I'm not a blue-grass purest either so I listened open-minded. A friend compared it to having grit in your eye! Still able to see, but knowing something just wasn't quite right. Another friend said it sounded like horror movie soundtrack.
However, I really like it! Granted, it is musicians music and not for anyone expecting 'cripple creek' or 'little Maggie'(the band were apparently heckled at a UK festival and told to 'play some blue-grass for Christ's sake'). There are parts that meander and clash, but on the whole there's a thread running through that allows you to stay on the journey. The songs break through the instrumentation at welcomed stages, especially suite 2's 'it's over' which hits you like a train ride bringing you a sudden glimpse of sparkling sea-shore after a passage through sombre woodland.
It's great to see someone reaching the top of their game. You can hear the enthusiasm in Thile's arrangements - his musical ability finally being stretched following the end of Nickel Creek. His fellow band members are all world class musicians in their own right, so he's no longer being held back.