Deceiver is the fourth solo album by American newgrass mandolinist Chris Thile, released on Sugar Hill in 2004. It features a total of 39 instruments, all played by Thile himself. The instruments played on the album include the mandolin, mandola, bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, violin, banjo and various percussion instruments. In 2005, the album was nominated the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical to the album's engineers, Thile and Gary Paczosa.

Musical style

In a 2007 interview, Chris Thile discussed what he musically envisioned for Deceiver: "I had to get that record out of my system I think. I really love pop music. I really love well made pop music. I needed to try making a pop record before I could move on and do what I really think I actually should be doing. That [last record] was like exploring pop music, not as an influence of mine, but as the desired result. Sometimes it works, but that ultimately I'm just not a pop musician. I love [pop music]; I think it's a very noble calling. But it's not my calling. And that's kinda how I feel about that record. I feel like I hit the nail on the head about maybe two or three out of ten. Which is not a high enough percentage. That being said, I'm proud of that record because I think it helped me get that out of my system. I also like the control thing. I realized I don't want that much control. That's just too much control for any one musician to have. And it's not necessarily conducive to the best music making."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Chris Thile

Personnel