Review: Phish Takes a Definitive Step Forward on ‘Evolve’

RATING CHART:
1 note – Pass
1.5 notes – Mediocre
2 notes – Average
2.5 notes – Above Average
3 notes – Good
3.5 notes – Great
4 notes – Excellent
4.5 notes – Exceptional
5 notes – Classic

PHISH
EVOLVE
🎵🎵🎵🎵

Long known as one of the leading lights within the post-Grateful Dead wave of jam bands and populist pundits, Phish has gone from being simply known as festival favorites to innovative auteurs capable of veering from stage to studio with equal aplomb. While the intrigue remains intact, Evolve, their 16th album to date, clearly lives up to its billing. A combination of craft and creativity, it makes for one of the band’s most melodic efforts to date.

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That emphasis on melody isn’t to be taken for granted. In the past, Phish’s signature sound emphasized their instrumental dexterity while leaving song structure a secondary consequence of the over-arched arrangements. Here, they find a kind of compromise that was perhaps less likely before, and in the process, manage to broaden their boundaries and find an audience beyond their traditional devotees. Granted, that comes with a risk, but other bands of a similar style have succeeded in the past, with the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers being two obvious examples. 

Guitarist Trey Anastasio said the tracks were recorded in two or three takes, which, he insists, is how Phish typically operates. Regardless, it’s clear these songs were thought out in advance and that a great deal of care went into their execution. The funk-fueled delivery of “Hey Stranger” and the echoes of pure R&B in “Oblivion” establish a distinctive sound early on. With the tender touch of “Mercy” and “Lonely Trip,” the pensive perspective of “Monsters,” and the supple yet assured “Ether Edge,” it quickly becomes clear that the band was eager to differentiate each entry and give them a distinctive presence. Not that it inhibits their progressive posturing; on the Steely Dan-sounding song “Pillow Jets,” the band takes flight from the initial concept and proceeds into some unexpectedly turbulent terrain.

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Ultimately, Evolve is all its name implies, a definitive step forward for a band that’s always combined an eclectic attitude with an improvisational approach. Happily, then, they’ve never sounded more convincing or compelling.

Photo by Danny Clinch / Courtesy Big Hassle