Album: Punch Brothers, Punch (Nonesuch)

The Punch Brothers are the new band formed by Nickel Creek mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, an association of expert country musicians whose debut does for bluegrass what The Gospel at Colonus did for gospel – develops a folk art into high art.

Their ambitions are signalled by the curious melody and closing discord of the opening "Punch Bowl", but are more fully realised in "The Blind Leading the Blind", four long movements in which mandolin, banjo, guitar, fiddle and bass combine with the precision of a string quartet and the verve of a jazz combo.

The 12-minute first movement is fast and serpentine, the second slower and more ruminative, bluegrass chamber music, before the more agitated and discursive third and fourth movements. It's breathtakingly impressive stuff, but it does lack the humour and joie de vivre of downhome bluegrass.

Download this: 'The Blind Leading the Blind', 'Punch Bowl'