Phish Previews Quickly-Made New Album ‘Evolve’ & Releases Banging ‘Life Saving Gun’ Single

This Friday, July 12, Phish will release their 16th full-length studio album, Evolve, via JEMP Records. Out today is “Life Saving Gun,” the forthcoming LP’s final single, which was co-written by guitarist Trey Anastasio and keyboardist Page McConnell, who each discussed Evolve with renowned journalist David Fricke.

David Fricke penned an essay on Evolve posted on the website of Phish’s publicity company Big Hassle. McConnell explained the follow-up to 2020’s Sigma Oasis was recorded swiftly at The Barn in Vermont. “What you hear is what we did on the road,” the keyboardist told Fricke. “Whatever we learned from playing them live – the right key, where to put the jam – we got in the studio. It was probably four days,” he says of the live tracking. “But I knew as they were going down: ‘Man, this is so good. It’s so great and easy.”

Phish went with the aim of capturing the energy of live performances in the studio. “The complaint over the years has been ‘Why don’t Phish albums sound like Phish? There’s one Phish I see live and one Phish I hear on albums,'” Anastasio said. So the quartet followed their muse with co-producers Bryce Goggin and Vance Powell laying down the material in what Fricke described as, “dynamic fast-off-the-floor live takes.”

“This is where Phish sounds best – when the takes are fast, when we’re not thinking,” Anastasio exclaimed. “We came in, set up and played – minimal separation, maximum two or three takes of each song. We had already opened the doors on tour, finding the songs everyone in the band felt good about and, with the audiences’ help, identifying the ones that had the magic.”

Several songs featured on Evolve were originally released by Anastasio on his 2022 solo acoustic effort, Mercy. “Little things revealed themselves,” Anastasio recalled of the extra step in the process that led to the Phish LP. “This song needs an intro, or the B section should be four bars instead of eight. And you start looking at the lyrics: ‘What am I trying to say there?'”

“That’s as much a part of the process as the band thing,” McConnell added. “It’s what continues to rise through those steps. We can put on as much production as we want. But the song is there.”

Two songs on Evolve have yet to be performed live by Phish. Anastasio confirmed “Valdese” takes its name from one of his “favorite spots” — a town in North Carolina’s Piedmont region. Meanwhile, bassist Mike Gordon arrived at The Barn with “Human Nature,” a song he co-wrote with longtime collaborator Scott Murawski. “We jumped on it and started doing cool things to it,” Anastasio noted of the Gordon/Murawski composition, “like double-micing the guitar through this old amp.”

“Life Saving Gun” was originally released on Anastasio and McConnell’s collaborative 2023 album, January. The song has since been performed live by Phish and quickly became a fan-favorite. “We played it live three times before we recorded it,” McConnell said in regards to the version laid down for Evolve. “Every time it was a banger.”

Stream Phish’s studio version of “Life Saving Gun” below:

Phish will perform on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this Thursday, July 11. The band kicks off their summer tour next weekend in Mansfield, Massachusetts July 19 – 21.