Review Summary: Big Boat sails dull waters.
Being a fan of A Picture of Nectar, I was intrigued when they announced that Phish would be releasing a new album this October. So when it did come out I gave it a listen the day of, and was quite disappointed with the album overall.
The album starts with a triumphant boom at the beginning of the track Friends, but when the vocals come in they are slightly cringe-worthy. The rest of the track becomes a repetitive mess that just isn't an enjoyable listen. This tends to be the trend with the rest of the tracks; having good instrumentation which would make it good on paper, but there's just nothing significant about any of the songs that makes them any memorable.
I think Phish's mistake on this album was the fact that they took no risks with trying to improve their sound, and they end up sounding very generic and washed up. If I compare any of the tracks here with Phish's magnum opus Stash, I find the main difference to be that Stash sounds like an adventure of sounds, while many of the tracks from Big Boat sound like they're trying to land a spot on a pop rock radio station.
Some of the stronger tracks include the closer Petrichor, as well as the funky No Men in No Man's Land, which do somewhat salvage the album from being a snoozefest. However, others like Things People Do and Blaze On are just so cookie-cutter that it's hard to keep my eyes open.
Now I will give it to Phish, their instrumentation hasn't really changed drastically from the precedent they've set in the past. Page McConnell can still rock those keys. This makes this album stand up straight on a technical level, but half of what made this band so great in the first place was more than just the instrumentation, it was the character. And that comes few and far between here.
That being said, Phish is well known for being amazing live with their stellar improv jam variations (see their Orlando 1995 concert), and it's too early to say now whether or not that magic will carry over with these new tracks. Knowing the quality of their performances, it's a safe bet to assume any live tracks from this album would top their studio counterparts.
In conclusion, I understand exactly where Phish are trying to come from, they're a classic case of the 90s rock band that realizes they're being forgotten about in pop culture, so try to come back swinging with a "fresh" new album. Unfortunately it just doesn't have any of the personality or the charm that took them into their A game in their early days, hence we end up with this disappointing record.
My rating for this album is a 5/10. It isn't necessarily awful, but I know Phish have the potential to do so much better. Maybe next time, Trey and co.
