Briefly: Phish’s Time Turns Elastic on iTunes

When a band releases their first single in nearly five years they usually tell their fans, but when does Phish do anything by the book? Last night a version of the Trey Anastasio-penned 13 minute suite Time Turns Elastic – recorded recently in New York City by the quartet for their new album produced by Steve Lilywhite – was put up for sale on iTunes, but the only way you’d know is if you happened to be searching the iTunes store for Phish or you caught wind of the release on a message board.

Have you downloaded the track? Let us know what you think…

UPDATE (11:19AM): Phish.com has been updated with the video above and a news item about this new single that includes word that the as-of-yet-untitled new album will drop on July 28th.

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38 Responses

  1. I think it’s pretty cool that nearly five years to the day after Trey broke our hearts by breaking up the band the boys have put out their first 3.0 single.

    What a difference five years makes! The health of this band hasn’t been this good since the mid-’90s.

  2. OK. Gets an “A” for effort. Another track I will buy and probably listen to twice (i.e. Headphones Jam). Nevertheless, positive move.

    My vision for Phish: A mix between GRAB and Wilco. More Funk, write songs ABOUT something. Doesn’t seem to be where Trey’s head is though.

    Looking forward to Sunday!!!!

  3. Wow, Rob S. Your “vision” for Phish? Because after 26 years of music they should be something different? They’ve never written songs ABOUT something, and that’s part of the beauty of Phish.

    As for the new single, I am pretty amazed right now. Ballsy is right! And it sounds GREAT.

  4. Haven’t heard it yet, but have heard Trey’s new album with the orchestra–a little weird to release the same song twice with two different bands. The Trey cut definitely got stuck in my head.
    btw, Headphone jam is awesome; literally listened to it twice on Sunday.

  5. Holy smokes.

    Several times this reminded me of The Grateful Dead’s Terrapin Station. Serious. Beautiful. Scary. Jubiliant. Wow gang.

  6. im sorry..its not what i was hoping for. sounds like a hod-podge of old phish tunes thrown together…ive been following since 92.billy breathes/ghost are the best..production on this is lacking..a little hallow and the tune is not so hot.

  7. I like it. Sometime’s Trey’s voice is unusually out front or louder in the mix, but overall I’d give it an A-. I can’t wait to see what Kuroda does with it!

  8. WHY CAN’T I DOWNLOAD IT!?!? why o why!?! “this song is being modified”!!!?

    i’ve been waiting all freakin day for this, itunes. you are pushing me to bit torrent, dammit!!

    but seriously, any ideas what this is??

  9. What is this song about? I just hear a bunch of generalities, and egotistic rambles. Can anyone relate to this? Where is the story? Perhaps it is part of something bigger. I hope it is.

  10. Listened to it this morning on my drive to work, and I love it. I love how deep the bass is in the mix. I think this will explode on summer tour. It seems like an amalgam of all of Phish up to this point in time. I like the structured changes, clearly this tune was composed very intentionally with room for improv. Phish 3.0 is looking good!

  11. Ok, whoever said this sounds like Terrapin Station, Cmon man!
    Second it’s like a greatest Hits album rolled into one song, there are rips from Bowie, YEM, and Fluffhead, it’s uninspiring to say the least.

  12. LOL at Billy Breathes being their best album. Billy Breathes is uninspired. Their best albums are Rift and Nectar.

  13. It’s brilliant. The song acts as the climb for the explosive drop at the end (11:15). Any loyal Phan or average Joe should be able to hear the song as it truly is. Production wise – the vocals are crisp and full of enthusiasm, the drums, bass, piano and guitar are perfectly placed in the stereo picture. The overall mix is thickly layered but in no way overbearing. Band wise – the playing has gotten more mature and stronger. The personal growth of all four musicians both separately and collectively has resulted in this incredibly sublime interplay.

    Sure when I first heard it I wasn’t overly impressed, but later when I wasn’t busy and I threw away my expectations I popped on a pair of nice headphones, closed my eyes, and really let myself fall into the sound. All of the above, and much more, became apparent. Do as I did, give it a TRUE second chance – listen with an open mind and open ears. These guys deserve way more credit for creating something wonderful to add to there already awesome repertoire.

  14. Meh. I HATED this at first listen. After forcing myself to listen 3 or 4 more times, it grew on me. It does have a prog-rock feel, almost like early Genesis in parts. But some of those lyrics, Trey, come on man. Bleeding sky and calling out to melody. Its like crappy high school poetry.

  15. I’m glad to see some people discussing their impressions of “Time Turns Elastic.” I wondered what the reception would be, and I get the sense that much of what is being said–both praise and criticism–is accurate. I have officially gotten hooked on the song, though that might just be because I have listened to it enough times now for it to get stuck in my head, so I keep playing it over and over. I feel like much of the song is contrived, that is, that it was written with the intention of being “epic” or whatever, though Trey’s statements about the song contradict this. Still, there are pieces of the song that I like–especially the bit where Trey belts out: “But all around/streaming down/rays of blue light/calling out.” That’s some of the most progressive stuff I’ve ever heard from this band, like something you might hear from Yes or something. In any event, there are bits of this song that I think are excellent, and even with the sections that feel contrived to me, this is some of the best stuff to come from Phish in a long time studio-wise. One other point I might make: there isn’t a long-ish guitar solo (i.e. just Trey–there are instrumental sections featuring the guitar, but no improv-style stuff that I hear, though I’m sure they’ll play around with it live), which speaks to the camaraderie of the band in their new state of mind. That’s damn promising. I mean, I love Trey’s sort of noodling, LOVE it. But it’s nice to hear a composition rather than some loose idea fleshed out for the recording. Thoughts?

  16. Actually, I mentioned Yes in my comment, but I think Mikey P had it right when he mentioned Genesis, a lot of this does sound like Genesis–like something right off /A Trick of the Tail/. I wonder if Trey’s been listening to that. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

  17. Makes sense to cite Genesis. Early Phish often sounded like early Genesis: (beginning of YEM, middle of Squirming Coil…)

    Not sure if I like TTE yet, but it’s better than most of Round Room and Undermind…

  18. I love the naivete, excitement of discovery, and complete disregard for what is considered “cool” that is present in the original recordings of songs like “YEM”, “Lizards”, “Mockingbird” (pretty much all of “Gamehenge”), “Fluffhead”, “Reba” and “Squirming Coil”. I love the way those Zappa Hot Rats, Pink Floyd, early Yes and early Genesis influences come out. There’s a weird sort of mystical nerdiness to it all.
    After Phish got all self-conscious w/ “Nectar”‘s annoying patchwork of genres, I felt that much of the magic had disappeared, and despite spirited efforts here and there w/ “Breathes”, “Ghost” (“Guyute” is fucking awesome) and even “Round Room” (I think I’m one of the only people out there that really kinda liked the rawness, immediacy and soul-searching of that album), the magic never really came back. “Hoist”, “Farmhouse”, “Undermind”, and even much of “Breathes” were simply awful; they were trying to be “cool” – something they weren’t and will never be. I’m sorry Trey, but you will never write the “perfect pop song”; you were onto something way cooler when you penned “The Curtain” out in the woods…
    This is why I like” Time Turns Elastic”. It’s pretty damn dorky, to the point of being almost ridiculous. But it also has a soul and beauty to it in that strange, old-Phishy way. There’s something kind of theatrical about the way it develops, too (the end part really reminds me of “Hair” for some reason), which only adds to the nerd factor… Shit, anything to move them away from the post-Grateful Dead-pseudo hippy-kind veggie burrito-hemp necklace-baseball cap-wearing frat boy-glow stick war bullshit that comprises the Phish scene. I’m betting that this song will grow on most of you in an unexpected way. The “epicness” of it will start to seem less contrived and more genuinely dorky, irreverent, and heartfelt.
    Stay weird, Phish, even to the weirdos!

  19. Easier-to-read version:

    I love the naivete, excitement of discovery, and complete disregard for what is considered “cool” that is present in the original recordings of songs like “YEM”, “Lizards”, “Mockingbird” (pretty much all of “Gamehenge”), “Fluffhead”, “Reba” and “Squirming Coil”. I love the way those Zappa Hot Rats, Pink Floyd, early Yes and early Genesis influences come out. There’s a weird sort of mystical nerdiness to it all.
    After Phish got all self-conscious w/ “Nectar”‘s annoying patchwork of genres, I felt that much of the magic had disappeared, and despite spirited efforts here and there w/ “Breathes”, “Ghost” (“Guyute” is fucking awesome) and even “Round Room” (I think I’m one of the only people out there that really kinda liked the rawness, immediacy and soul-searching of that album), the magic never really came back. “Hoist”, “Farmhouse”, “Undermind”, and even much of “Breathes” were simply awful; they were trying to be “cool” – something they weren’t and will never be. I’m sorry Trey, but you will never write the “perfect pop song”; you were onto something way cooler when you penned “The Curtain” out in the woods…
    This is why I like” Time Turns Elastic”. It’s pretty damn dorky, to the point of being almost ridiculous. But it also has a soul and beauty to it in that strange, old-Phishy way. There’s something kind of theatrical about the way it develops, too (the end part really reminds me of “Hair” for some reason), which only adds to the nerd factor… Shit, anything to move them away from the post-Grateful Dead-pseudo hippy-kind veggie burrito-hemp necklace-baseball cap-wearing frat boy-glow stick war bullshit that comprises the Phish scene. I’m betting that this song will grow on most of you in an unexpected way. The “epicness” of it will start to seem less contrived and more genuinely dorky, irreverent, and heartfelt.
    Stay weird, Phish, even to the weirdos!

  20. I’ll try that again…

    I love the naivete, excitement of discovery, and complete disregard for what is considered “cool” that is present in the original recordings of songs like “YEM”, “Lizards”, “Mockingbird” (pretty much all of “Gamehenge”), “Fluffhead”, “Reba” and “Squirming Coil”. I love the way those Zappa Hot Rats, Pink Floyd, early Yes and early Genesis influences come out. There’s a weird sort of mystical nerdiness to it all.

    After Phish got all self-conscious w/ “Nectar”’s annoying patchwork of genres, I felt that much of the magic had disappeared, and despite spirited efforts here and there w/ “Breathes”, “Ghost” (”Guyute” is fucking awesome) and even “Round Room” (I think I’m one of the only people out there that really kinda liked the rawness, immediacy and soul-searching of that album), the magic never really came back. “Hoist”, “Farmhouse”, “Undermind”, and even much of “Breathes” were simply awful; they were trying to be “cool” – something they weren’t and will never be. I’m sorry Trey, but you will never write the “perfect pop song”; you were onto something way cooler when you penned “The Curtain” out in the woods…

    This is why I like” Time Turns Elastic”. It’s pretty damn dorky, to the point of being almost ridiculous. But it also has a soul and beauty to it in that strange, old-Phishy way. There’s something kind of theatrical about the way it develops, too (the end part really reminds me of “Hair” for some reason), which only adds to the nerd factor… Shit, anything to move them away from the post-Grateful Dead-pseudo hippy-kind veggie burrito-hemp necklace-baseball cap-wearing frat boy-glow stick war bullshit that comprises the Phish scene. I’m betting that this song will grow on most of you in an unexpected way. The “epicness” of it will start to seem less contrived and more genuinely dorky, irreverent, and heartfelt.

    Stay weird, Phish, even to the weirdos!

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