Phish Fry on Funky New ‘Fuego’ Track, ‘555’
Phish‘s new LP, Fuego, is set to drop on June 24th, and the band continues to satiate fan curiosity by sharing tracks from the long-awaited album. Their latest tease is the funky “555,” which showcases Trey Anastasio’s psychedelic wah-wah and Mike Gordon’s relentless bass.
Phish Go All-In for First Album in Five Years, ‘Fuego’
The five-and-a-half-minute tune blends a number of disparate elements into a cohesive whole. The rhythm section shines, making space for a laid-back melody and fuzzy backing vocals. But the track gets progressively more layered, introducing a soulful backing choir and chorus horns. Anastasio lets rip with a spacey guitar showcase in the final two minutes, as Page McConnell adds rich blasts of Hammond organ.
The band first announced the Bob Ezrin-produced Fuego in May, sharing the epic “Waiting All Night.” Later in the month, they released another new song, the dramatic “The Line.” When the band debuted the latter track during their recent Halloween gig, Anastasio explained that the song was dedicated to former University of Memphis basketball player Darius Washington, Jr. because it’s “about his experience when he missed those two free throws at the end of the Final Four Michigan State game. We love him, and we can relate.”
Drummer Jon Fishman says that Fuego was designed to showcase the free-spirited energy of the band’s live show. “For years, there’s been a distinct difference between how we did things live and how we did them in the studio,” he said in a statement. “But the way we go about things live, the way the musical ball is passed around, is now happening much more in the studio – not because we’re trying to duplicate how we play on stage, just because this is how we operate as a band, period.”
The album is now available for pre-order here, and the iconic jam band will be performing residencies on their upcoming summer tour, which kicks off July 1st in Mansfield, Massachusetts.