My Valentine.... (Who's Feeling Young Now by Punch Brothers)

...was downloadable, the very best kind.  Who's Feeling Young Now by the Punch Brothers came out today.  I've been waiting and waiting, and when I got up this morning, I went straight to amazon and downloaded it.  Fan-freaking-tastic.  Birthday yesterday and Punch Brothers today.

Punch Brothers only gets better.  Their sound is somehow only more and more refined.  Their first outings together as "The Band" were good on How to Grow a Woman from the Ground, and Punch was awesome as was Antifogmatic, but here there is a smoothness and evenness that the others were only leading up to.  It just flows.  The playfulness I love in them is clearly present in songs like "Patchwork Girlfriend" but there is...I don't know...a maturity to it, maybe, that I find appealing.

The technical mastery that makes me stop what I'm doing in sheer awe leads off with "Movement and Location."  I saw them do that one in Birmingham, and damn if it doesn't still make me sigh.  They're just so good at what they do, technicians and craftsmen of their instruments.  It's so wonderful.

I'm still feeling my way through my favorites, a process that's like trying to decide what diamond is better or worse, but I have a couple of early front-runners.  Predictably, one I like is one Josh Ritter co-wrote.  "New York City" is one of those emotional places I've been.  Again, listening to it I find myself wishing for a Ritter/PB tour....  Another early favorite is "No Concern of Yours" for the lyrics.  They cut just like a thin sharp blade.  The one I laughed when I heard, though, and said, "Yes.  This," was "Don't Get Married Without Me."  When they did it in Birmingham, I sort of saw myself in it.  "Help yourself to whatever you like with whomever you like/ but don't get married without me / Let's not fool ourselves / Cause we aren't cowards / We aren't liars / We're just two people who aren't in love / right now."

Likely, though, my favorite so far is "Soon or Never."  It's short, but the words are gorgeous.  "If I have ever seen your lips move and known you couldn't say/ The words I think could make me love you/ And heard them anyway/ And heard them anyway/ Then I have not been/ I have not been in love /I rise as the sun goes down and I pray my true love and I find a way to each other soon or never."

When I saw Thile, Pickles, and crew in concert a couple of weeks ago, in his patter, Thile said something about the 14th only being important because the album was coming out.  I have to agree with him.  I got nothing else for today, but really, what else could I ask for?  This was a gift of love enough from a band I love in return.  Thanks, guys.  It was much appreciated.