Nickel Creek- Celebrants
Label: Thirty Tigers
Producer: Eric Valentine
With another nine years and countless other projects having passed since 2014’s A Dotted Line (itself, an arduous nine years in the making), the spell-bindingly talented trio of Chris Thile and siblings Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins have gloriously bestowed upon us another return from Nickel Creek. And just as they did at the dawn of the new millennium, the band immediately restores one’s faith in the modern world’s ability to produce pure, authentic, magical musicianship. Celebrants immediately ranks with the lofty standards set by the group’s breakthrough trilogy of classics that included 2000’s self-titled, 2002’s This Side, and 2005’s Why Should the Fire Die, that A Dotted Line, while utterly pleasing, didn’t quite fully achieve. Across an ambitious collection of eighteen performances, they reaffirm their unabated respect for the tradition of bluegrass music, while marrying it with their signature forward-looking creativity and unrelenting thirst for artistic progression and reinvention. Gorgeously performed with the group’s sumptuously untouchable harmonies and their unmistakable instrumental dexterity, this music is as luminously moving and tastefully executed as anything you’ll hear on a professional recording all year. This troop of mind-blowingly prodigious youngsters have matured into three of America’s most imposing musical talents, across any spectrum or medium. Consequently, it’s no surprise that Celebrants excels as one of those rare records that is so seamlessly crafted and executed, that it’s difficult to discuss it as anything other than one comprehensive body of music. Nevertheless, like any classic of any measure, there are still undeniable highlights to pinpoint. Singles “Strangers” and “Holding Pattern” immediately rank among their most potent compositions, as they grapple with the wide array of personal and social reckonings offered by the COVID-19 pandemic that seem destined to lurk over society indefinitely. Fantastically searing tracks like “Thinnest Wall”, “Where the Long Line Leads”, and “New Blood” once again demonstrate that Sara Watkins’ hidden talents as one of modern music’s most commanding female dynamos only intensifies with each decade. Meanwhile, the sequence of music that spans “Goddamned Saint”, “”Stone’s Throw”, and “Goddamned Saint (Reprise)”, is as artfully expansive as anything produced during the height of 60s art-rock. Thile lands totally in his element here as a charismatic and peerless bandleader who, as always, approaches his music with an equal reverence for the raw energy of roots music and the sophistication of a classical orchestra. Smack dab in the middle is “Throw”, which (along with “Hollywood Ending”) is one of those unassuming and sly, folksy bulls-eyes from Sean Watkins, who again emerges as the band’s dark horse and its undeniable heartbeat. And just as you think this astute ensemble has afforded us every ounce of musical brilliance and inspiration that can possibly be mustered, they close with one of the album’s most remarkable high notes.“Failure Isn’t Forever” is a gorgeously uplifting and emotional cinematic piece of hope and resilience: “Failures aren’t forever…unless they quit wondering how to get better.” Celebrants itself is anything but a failure, and it certainly stands to live on forever as another striking jewel in Nickel Creek’s esteemed catalog; this record is pure and distinguished art of the very highest accord.
Track Listing:
- “Celebrants” (Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, Sean Watkins)
- “Strangers” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Water Under the Bridge, Part 1” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “The Meadow” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Thinnest Wall” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Going Out…” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Holding Pattern” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Where the Long Line Leads” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Goddamned Saint” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Stone’s Throw” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Goddamned Saint, Reprise” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “From the Beach” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “To the Airport” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “…Despite the Weather” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Hollywood Ending” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “New Blood” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Water Under the Bridge, Part 2” (Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
- “Failure Isn’t Forever” “Thile, Watkins, Watkins)
The 706 
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