Evolve

If Evolve feels slightly familiar upon its first spin, theres a reason for that. Its not just that Phish road-tested the lions share of the tunes on their 16th studio album before heading into the Barn with longtime associate Bryce Goggin and Sigma Oasis helmer Vance Powell sharing producing credits. Many of the songs were first aired on solo albums by Trey Anastasio: three tunes appeared on his 2020 solo set Lonely Trip, while two others first aired on his 2022 album Mercy, and "Life Saving Gun" showed up on January, a 2023 collaboration between Trey and Page McConnell. The repetition was quite deliberate. Phish wanted to hit the ground running in the Barn, to cut an album quickly, so the group avoided their tendency of getting lost in the studio weeds. Treating the sessions for Evolve as something like an extended live gig -- the entire record was cut in less than a week -- did the trick. Phish sound lively and boisterous right out of the gate, tearing through "Hey Stranger" with glee and gliding into the loose-limbed funk of "Oblivion" with casual flair. They maintain these high spirits as Evolve winds its way toward "Lonely Trip," a lovely ballad that closes out the first section of the record. At that point, Evolve has the momentum of a concert, generating kinetic energy that propels it forward. Things shift once "Life Saving Gun" kicks off the second half. Expanded from its original January incarnation, the song opens up a side where Phish amble and ramble, stopping for a goofy number co-written by Mike Gordon -- the only original from him here; the rest of the record bears Anastasio credits, along with a few collaborators -- and taking an oddly engaging detour on the breezy "Valdese," which almost has a rockabilly bop to its beat. All the performances on the second side of Evolve echo the sinewy swing of its first half; the difference is, this section of the record has an off-kilter pace that confirms this is a record, not a concert, a shift that hits a little harder after the fetching ease of the first side. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine