2013-10-31 Phishbill
“Wingsuit”
On Halloween, Phish eschewed the traditional “Costume Set” wherein the band covers a classic album and, instead, took the bold move of debuting 12 new songs that, they announced, would likely comprise the bulk of their yet-to-be-recorded new album. While writing and rehearsals for the album had taken place over the last year, none of these tunes had been played for a Phish audience. The band hoped that the live experience would add to their understanding of each of these songs as they go into the studio to record with legendary producer, Bob Ezrin, in the first week of November.
“Wingsuit” starts with thin vocals and a refrain that feels tentative, but warms a bit with a strong guitar solo. The lyrics are not ambiguous and sound very much of the 3.0 era, honest and direct about life and how to live it. I suspect that this will grow significantly in the studio into a great piece of audio work. It was followed by “Feugo” which kicks off with a strong instrumental sequence followed by a chanted verse and big, sing-songy, wordless chorus. This song turned around a lot of people who were unsure after the set began with “Wingsuit”. The various segments of “Feugo” illustrate a lot of what Phish does in this era: quick changes, high tempo riffing, and a healthy dose of darkness.
“The Line” pushes the darkness aside and explores fear and facing challenges from a positive perspective. This could be Phish’s pop masterpiece, honestly. The backing vocals are gorgeous, the melody is strong and simple and the message clear as a bell. This is exactly the sort of song Phish fans love to hate but it’s really a great pop song and I can’t help but like it.
“Monica” is an unstoppably catchy earworm with call-and-response vocals that will bounce around in your head for an hour after you hear it. Fortunately, it completely lacks in awfulness. They performed it in a stripped down setup with Trey on acoustic, Mike on an upright bass, Fishman on a stripped down kit, and Page on a simplified keyboard setup. “Waiting All Night” has a bit more of the call-and-response but this time in the electrified, full setup with Trey’s solos gliding beautifully across the mix. It’s a simple song but pretty and a definite keeper with lots of potential.
Just when you might begin to wonder if Phish has fallen into a groove of inoffensive adult contemporary radio vibes, “Wombat” comes along and is fucking weird enough to put that theory to rest. Fish raps and other vocal lines are shared around the stage with lyrics that are bizarrely referential, calling out the “Fish” tv-show featuring Abe Vigoda (a “Barney Miller” spin-off, “Fish” lasted two seasons), Wilson, and the song’s name-sake, the “cuddly but muscular” Wombat. This all happens over a funky, very danceable groove that makes for a perfect Phish song.
“Snow”, on the other hand, did not come through as neatly. The woven acoustic guitar lines sound good but the vocals did not shine in the live setting. I have little doubt that this will be ironed out in the studio and may well be a favorite of mine by the time it makes the album. By contrast, “Devotion To A Dream” is a well realized song that, once again shows how much Trey has learned about more traditional songwriting in the past several years. It’s been a solid lesson and tunes like this are how we all benefit. On top of a solid song, there is a little lick in there that could be developed into a great jam if they decided to open things up.
“555” is another great song from Mike. It sounds very Gordon-esque but it’s not as odd or disjointed as “Sugar Shack” was when it debuted. In fact, “555” offered the closest thing to any jamming potential as it stretched out to 8 minutes. This one is a definite keeper.
“Winterqueen” starts slow but builds some good tension with Trey’s solo. It is probably not the next “Down With Disease” but then what would we do with a second one of those?
“Amidst The Peals Of Laughter” is charming, although it produced my first actual, “Huh?” moment when Trey sang the entire Jack And Jill rhyme in there. The rest of the lyrics are far less concrete, though, and I wonder if Jack and Jill were put in there to give the listener a concrete, familiar image on which to latch. I’m not sure it works but I’ve done it too in writing songs. Sometimes these things live in a lyric for a while until a suitable replacement verse makes itself known.
Lastly, “You Never Know” has a great lilting guitar part and more of those strong harmonies. The lyrics being about some guy that ripped Phish off don’t intrude too heavily in what is a decent composition.
After a couple listens, I hear a Phish that is attempting to connect the lines between who they once were and who they want to be. Now that they’ve taken these songs for a spin onstage, one hopes the upcoming studio sessions will be quite productive and I, for one, am really looking forward to the new album.
-rj