On Wednesday night, Phish unveiled a new studio album entitled Sigma Oasis via a listening party that was livestreamed on SiriusXM’s Phish Radio, YouTube, Facebook, LivePhish and the JamBase Livestreams Calendar. Sigma Oasis, the band’s 14th album was announced by the group on Tuesday and made available on all digital platforms at midnight ET on Thursday.
Phish recorded the majority of the nine-track effort at guitarist Trey Anastasio‘s Barn in Vermont over the period of a week this past November. Vance Powell, Michael Fahey, Ben Collette and Jared Slomoff all helped with the recording process. Phish co-produced the LP with Powell, who mixed the album at Sputnik Sound in Nashville with mastering handled by Pete Lyman at Nashville’s Infrasonic Mastering.
All nine of the songs on Sigma Oasis had been performed live by the band prior to the release of the album with “Steam” dating back to 2011 and “Evening Song” debuted live on December 28, 2019. The LP includes strings arranged by Don Hart and vocal production and arrangements by Raab Stevenson.
Phish issued a note about their new album. Read the statement below:
Sigma Oasis came to be during the first week of November 2019, but it wasn’t planned that way at all. We were headed up to The Barn to rehearse for our fall tour and ended up discussing this batch of relatively recent songs that we were particularly proud of and always wished we had recorded, but hadn’t had a chance to yet. Trey suggested calling up Vance Powell as he mixed and engineered Ghosts Of The Forest. Vance was very familiar with the space and the console so we set up the gear with no room dividers, no click tracks. Nothing. Just like a Phish show. Open space. We played for a couple days. We just played a bunch of songs — very quickly, a few takes, very organic, natural, live, honest. We had the best time.
When we were done, our photographer Rene came up and asked us to come out on the porch and snap a photo. It took about two minutes. And that’s the album cover — a snapshot of our band at that point in time.
Vance had some stuff on his schedule so he asked as a favor if we would mind if he didn’t mix until early March. Now four months might sound like a long time, but it gave all of us time to work on the tracks — Page overdubbed a lot of keyboards at home. Trey went to a studio in New York and did vocals and percussion. We had time to pick which songs we wanted to work on. We let a few of them go, which was difficult, but that’s ok.
When we recorded the album, we didn’t plan to release it this way. But today, because of the environment we’re all in, it just feels right. We don’t know the next time that we’re all going to be able to be together. This is an opportunity to have a moment where the Phish community can share something despite being physically separated.
The last line of the chorus of “Sigma Oasis” sums up this point — There’s no place to get. There’s nothing to achieve. There’s no place to be. We’re here. Right here, right now is as good as it gets. “You’re already there.” It’s a content state of mind. You’re just completely in the moment. “You’re already there.” You already have everything you need. Sigma Oasis. It aligns with where we are in our career and as friends and musicians. There’s a joy to the playing. We’re not clamoring to make it. Make what? We’re already there! Sigma Oasis.
-Phish
Listen to Sigma Oasis below and head here for a liveblog featuring instant reactions from the listening party:
Sigma Oasis Tracklist
- Sigma Oasis – 5:49
- Leaves – 7:03
- Everything’s Right – 12:21
- Mercury – 7:30
- Shade – 4:24
- Evening Song – 3:20
- Steam – 7:52
- A Life Beyond The Dream – 6:30
- Thread – 11:10
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