Monday Night Music: Punch Brothers, ‘Punchbowl’

Mandolin maestro Chris Thile’s latest band is called Punch Brothers, and here’s a beautifully twisted song from their album Punch. [iTunes]

A comment posted at YouTube:

the album “Punch” outlines the story of Chris Thile’s divorce… it opens with this song, Punch Bowl… IF you listen to the words, you find out that this song is about the night his (then) wife went to a party and got drunk on punch… she then slept with some fellow…

the dissonant chords are when the song is about her…. when they go to the pretty “Major” chords… that’s him speaking from his point of view….

it truly is genius…. go buy the album…. then you’ll understand….

I don’t know if the rest is accurate, but I completely agree on the last point. This is an album you need to hear if you like music; its roots are in bluegrass, but Thile and his gifted band are doing something entirely new.

It might take several listens to get (it did for me), but the best music is often like that.