By Gage Henry
Would anyone have guessed that on March 27th, our very own Hugh Hodgson Hall would give floor to the best mandolin player in the world? More importantly, did anyone even know he was here?
On what seemed like a casual night for many, Chris Thile, former mandolinist for the bluegrass rooted Nickel Creek, and his present band, Punch Brothers, delighted a surprisingly small crowd of faithful, or rather fortunate fans at the University’s Performing Arts Center. Based on the advertising campaign put out by the PAC-- which buried this feature in a monthly schedule, posted on a website no one knows about—most people there just got lucky via word of mouth.
Indeed, the audience was treated to a great show, but no one was happier to be there than Chris Thile himself. His first words on stage praised the elaborate concert hall, originally built for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, yet perfectly suited Punch Brother’s eclectic string picking, smooth dissonance and glowing harmonies.
The band’s set drew largely from their first album (released February 26, 2008), Punch, partly a tortuous musical documentation of Thile’s 2004 divorce. Among the evening’s set was a forty minute suite, “The Blind Leaving the Blind,” which Thile wrote in four movements and Punch Brothers played in its weepy and woebegone whole.
Highlighting one member of Punch Brothers is like ordering a dish from a restaurant where everything is good. Noam Pikelny, their jesting banjo player, lightly produced sparkling background melodies that appeared to move faster than the fingers which played them, a feat while standing next to Thile.
The spindly fingers of Paul Kowert, the gangly bassist, walked up and down the neck of his instrument, both purposeful and fluid, laying a compounded foundation fitted for the band’s keynote improvisation.
The world renowned mandolinist exceeded his own infinite standards, brimming with talent that sparked from his plucking fingers and rested on the smooth inflection of his unwavering voice. He played the mandolin like a third limb, and made his performance look all too easy.
Punch Brothers also explored alternative sounds through unorthodox, mechanical percussions, slapping the hollows of their instruments and grinding their strings during an impressive cover of Radiohead's “Packt Like Sardines.” Noises reminiscent of a cheesy 1960's Sci-Fi flick crept through the concert hall's vast space, expanding the genre of “progressive acoustic” as we know it today.
No band is flawless in a live concert, yet Punch Brothers tested this absolute. Every note and harmony projected into the crowd as if they'd been rehearsed a thousand times before. Their progression was tight like a studio record (crediting their sound technician who fiddled with buttons and faders through the entire concert), but their delivery was impassioned with a liveliness too rampant to be captured in microphones and equalizers.
The performance came complete with an intermission and much expected encore, where Thile dipped back into his lambent solo era, which mirrored “House of Tom Bombadil” of Nickel Creek's early fame.
Punch Bothers' set ended strong, with Thile bowing out while praising the hoots and hollers of what he claims to be one of his best audiences he's played for. The prodigy, with his four band members, exited the stage as Thursday night's best kept secret.
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