Punch Brothers
Who's Feeling Young Now?
Album · Contemporary Bluegrass · 2012
Who’s Feeling Young Now? finds this supergroup gelling as a unit. Formed by lead singer and mandolin master Chris Thile, the band includes Chris Eldridge on guitar, Paul Kowert on bass, Noam Pikelny on banjo, and Gabe Witcher on fiddle (and lead vocals on “Hundred Dollars”). Starting from a bluegrass foundation, the Brothers veer into jazz, pop, rock, and hidden corners of Americana on their third release. With dazzling interplay they trade solos and dance around sophisticated tunes filled with unusual time signatures, melodic beauty, and washes of dissonance. But though the arrangements are complex, the songs remain catchy and accessible. “Movement and Location” is lush and expansive, “Patchwork Girlfriend” is playful and loose, “Don’t Get Married Without Me” is a charming piece of pop-folk, and the title track is edgy and driving. And as further proof of their eclecticism, they do a riveting cover of Radiohead’s “Kid A” on which they transpose the original’s electronic blips for acoustic plucks and bends that are every bit as textured and intriguing.