Primer: Phish Part 9- Farmhouse

In the CD tray of Farmhouse, there's a picture of the four members of Phish in the middle of a huge snowy expanse, staring up at the camera which is high above them. It's a pretty picture but it also helps to identify the dichotomy essential to the album: the warmth and closeness of the four men versus the loneliness and isolation of rural Vermont. The album strikes a line between the Earthy and the cosmic, music equally at home in the frozen winter as it is the sweltering summer.

If Story of the Ghost taught us that Phish still had their eclecticism, then Farmhouse was a reminder that they might be best--studio-wise, anyway--when they concentrate on a cohesive set of songs. As the album title belies, Farmhouse focuses on songs of rustic character; laid back, country-tinged, and bouncy, these songs borrow from a tradition of Southern rock that borders the jam band scene via bands like The Allman Brothers. At the same time, there's a bit of a funky vibe carried over from the Ghost era, most evident on the danceable throwdown 'Gotta Jibboo.' Yet there's an underlying introversion and cosmic feel to the album at the same time. This makes sense to me, though. As someone who's been out to the country and stared up at starry skies on clear nights, it's often when you're in the middle of nowhere that you think the most about your place in the world and the universe. Insignificant only begins to approach how you feel. And so comes the religious commentary of 'Bug', the death metaphors of 'Dirt', and the socio-political-philosophical searching of 'Sand', which has a spacey/electronic sound that is the closest Phish ever got to techno.

It's worth mention that the recording of Farmhouse bookended the end of the Millenium for Phish, who spent the last month of '99 touring and then performing a 7 hour marathon concert on New Year's Eve. Known as Big Cypress, this 'festival' performance is legendary in Phish lore and is largely sighted as the reason Phish went on hiatus in the fall of 2000....and again in the summer of 2004. If you're the conspiracy theorist type, it's easy to read a lot of doubt and confusion, specifically about the band and the 'scene' that follows it from town to town, into the lyrics of Farmhouse.

As it was Phish's last studio release before their first hiatus, I think Farmhouse has a lot of baggage associated with it, just as Undermind would in 2004. Another parallel is that Farmhouse contained the band's biggest hit, 'Heavy Things', while Undermind would have 'The Connection.' Both are unrepentant pop songs and both are better than hardcore fans are willing to admit, though I myself went through a period of loathing them just on principle. Anyway, listening to Farmhouse without any context other than the band's other studio releases, as I've been trying to, I think it's underrated. It's the closest they've gotten to another Billy Breathes kind of album in which they produce a succinct, warmly produced record that will stand the test of time. Farmhouse might even be a bit more interesting to the average listener since this and the future Round Room contain much more successful slow songs while also having some fiery playing (the latter release has the first honest-to-god jams on any Phish studio album post-Lawn Boy). While I love Billy Breathes, I feel 'Dirt', 'Sleep', and the unashamedly gorgeous instrumental 'The Inlaw Josie Wales' are better grist than the ballads that came before.

Farmhouse is one of those albums I've gone back and forth on, but not in a "is it good or does it suck??" kind of way. Rather I've never firmly held to whether it's a five star or four star release. The more I've listened to it, however, (especially with the further context of 2002's Round Room and 2004's Undermind) it seems to have gotten better with age. Were there no Billy Breathes, Farmhouse would be the masterpiece of their studio output, whether you're a fan or not. In that regard it deserves five stars and fairly earns every one.