The Traveler Review

I have long been a fan of Trey Anastasio, lead singer of Phish and extraordinary guitarist who seems to have tried his hand at more styles of music than the average musician. I was first interested in Trey Anastasio as a musician outside of Phish when he released a self-titled album in 2002.

I have always enjoyed how Trey incorporates a number of different styles into any one given song. On his new album “Traveler,” for example, you will find songs like “Land of Nod,” which goes from one genre of music to another and then another within the matter of only a few minutes. The album is extremely lively and has its fair share of tracks with enthusiastic backing singers. The song “Pigtail” features such a backing group as well as a fantastic horn arrangement.

Trey Anastasio played the song this last September with The Roots and Grace Potter when they played at The Capitol Theater — thankfully captured for posterity and uploaded to Youtube, which you can see here:

The track “Clint Eastwood” is a rather curious track and it seemed to be unlike any other song on the album. I wondered how it was possible that this was a Trey Anastasio song and it came together to me when I found out that it was actually a cover of a song by the Gorillaz. Despite not being a Trey Anastasio song, the band really made it their own and jazzed it up quite a bit.

When I heard the original Gorillaz song it was quite clear how different the song had become. The last two songs of the album are “Valentine” and “Traveler,” the song after which the album takes its name. Both are over six minute excursions into musical beauty, exploring and pushing the limits of music. You can find the album in cd format as well as vinyl. It can be purchased on iTunes and, if you are still unsure if you are going to like it, you can listen to the full album for free if you use Spotify. I think it’s a fantastic album and worth a listen or two.