A week ago my supervisor handed me this CD and said he wanted to know what I thought of it. "He’s this amazing bluegrass mandolin virtuoso, but this has nothing to do with that." Since bluegrass isn’t my thing that last part was necessary to even get me to listen to the thing. I was rather pleasantly surprised.
Admittedly I know little to nothing about Thile. I know he grew up spending a lot of time playing with the other kids at bluegrass festivals. At some point he picked up the mandolin and was annoyingly good at it. Then at another point he formed the band Nickel Creek with a couple other kids who are annoyingly good. The band was formed as bluegrass band, but it’s much more versatile these days. Deceiver, according to their website appears to be his second solo album (although I think they need to update their bio because it looks like his third to me).
So about this album? I guess the most surprising part about it, to me, is that he avoided the dangers of a musical virtuoso working on a solo album. Things can get awful self-indulgent and over done. While "Jessamyn's Reel" appears to be a showcase for his skills with the mandolin, he doesn’t ever sacrifice the good of the song for another opportunity to show us how annoyingly good he is.
Some of the tracks, "On Ice" and "Empire Falls," even seem ready for top 40 radio play (if top 40 programmers weren’t so slow to grab up good music, and that's not to indicate that I ever listen to top 40.).
The rest of the CD appears to be actively looking to defy genres. My untrained ear can hear rock and power pop and jazz and country and several things that seem familiar but are oh so hard to put a finger on.
So the bottom line would appear to be that he’s an amazing bluegrass mandolin virtuoso, but this CD has nothing to do with that. Maybe that’s why the bluegrass/folk/country crowd that’s his normal audience seems so displeased with it? Good stuff.
Grade: B+
Buy Deceiver at Amazon.com.
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