Undermind

Yes, it's true, dude. Phish are packing it in. It doesn't seem fair, really. After all, it's you who's been quitting your job every summer, loading up the 4-Runner with kind bud, and following the Vermont quartet from town to town. Now you're 33 and what do you have to show for it? An entry-level job and a box of killer bootlegs. Well, here's your parting gift. Undermind is a wholly pleasant, surprisingly accessible, but ultimately unsatisfying, swan song. Sure, "The Connection" has a nice alt-country lilt, and "Nothing" is a folk-pop vision in smooth guitar lines and easygoing organ, but they lack the zonked weirdness that inspired your slavish devotion in the first place. Trey Anastasio is Phish's main songwriting force, but it's the other guys' tunes that keep Undermind cooking. Page McConnell's soulful "Army of One" conjures the Band's Last Waltz, and there's a winning jauntiness to the quirky, Mike Gordon–penned "Access Me." In the end, though, it all seems like a pretty chintzy severance package, considering everything you've put into this band. Too bad you didn't contribute to the 401(k) plan.