Phish return with solid, familiar sound in 'Round Room' January 23, 2003 - Daily Mississippian By Maggie Middleton Album Review - Round Room Two years ago, after more than 15 years of touring and recording together, perennial tour favorites Phish decided to take a break. In the downtime, the members of the band pursued their own side projects, most notably Phish's lead singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio's solo work and collaborations with the supergroup Oysterhead. Many Phishheads began to wonder if the band's "indefinite hiatus" had taken on a more permanent meaning. Then, late last year, the band gave their fans some hope. Phish announced they would be going back on tour for a while, starting with one of their traditional New Year's Eve shows. In preparation for the show, the band went to the studio. Four days later, they emerged with "Round Room." "Round Room" is what you would expect from a four-day Phish jamathon. The music is unified and scattered at the same time. Each player goes on his own musical escapade, his venture far different from the next guy's. But somehow, the differences meld together to form a cohesive ending. Like all good jam bands, Phish can work without a script, and any disbelievers of that theory are proven wrong after a hard listen to "Round." The disk opens with a two-minute minijam that starts out softly. The piano and bass give way to interaction with the drums and then the guitar, and before you know it, they're all playing with and against each other until they die down and let Anastasio's voice come to the forefront. The lyrics of "Pebbles and Marbles" develop with the music, eventually evolving to the line "Pebbles and marbles like things on my mind / Seem to get lost and harder to find." The laidback feel of the first two minutes is eventually discarded for a more desperate feel in the second half of this nearly 12 minute track. The instruments cry out to be heard over one another, with no sound taking a back seat. "Pebbles and Marbles" is like a map for the rest of the disk. The tone of the songs alternates between relaxed and intense. The unhurried melodies of songs such as "Anything But Me," "Thunderhead," "Waves" and the lyrically brief but musically broad "Seven Below" are sure to become fan favorites on the band's February tour. The more ambitious sounds of "Walls of the Cave" add to the musical landscape of the disk and the band. And finally, no review of this album would be complete without mentioning the rocking, thundering "46 Days." Anastasio's guitar rips through the song, while keyboardist Page McConnell matches Anastasio's ferver note for note. Drummer Jon Fishman takes on the role of a parent dealing with unruly children and keeps McConnell and Anastasio from getting out hand. It is important to realize that "Round Room" is not a polished studio disk, and it's not meant to be. Phish wasn't trying to recreate the wheel here. They are, instead, doing what they do best: jamming out and sharing it with the world. Copyright © 2003 Daily Mississippian