RIYL: Hem, The Weepies, Rilo Kiley
It’s that rare album that can be listened to repeatedly and each time offer a new experience, opening the door to discovery on each successive hearing. Likewise, there’s a hint of something significant when an album provides its listeners with a stunning display of prowess and ingenuity that not only elevates the artist’s profile but also marks a new benchmark in their career trajectory. It’s telling that if, in attempting to evaluate it, adjectives alone don’t do it justice.
That, then, is the best way to sum up I and Love and You, the remarkable major label debut from the Avett Brothers, the North Carolina trio whose indie career crested with Emotionalism two years ago. A disc that brought them full circle, Emotionalism earned the right to be labeled 2007’s indie album of the year. Like its predecessor, I and Love and You, is rich in gut-level appeal, a concept album revolving around simple truths that revel in honesty, heartbreak and humanity. The mission statement that adorns the back cover offers their insights into the essential three words – and the sentiments that express them – betraying so many intentions and such special significance.
One of the things that distinguish the Avetts from their like-minded peers is their ability to combine a wistful and plaintive approach with the irresistible urgency of cascading choruses that seep into the consciousness and steadfastly maintain their grasp. The tender yet impassioned pleas of “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise,” the title track and “The Perfect Space” illuminate that premise succinctly. “I want to have friends that I can trust / For the man I’ve become and not the man I was,” they convincingly croon in the latter. Producer Rick Rubin, clearly no slouch when it comes to illuminating the dark recesses of his clients’ souls, maintains the Avetts’ unfettered style, but subtlety fleshes it out along the way, adding jaunty piano interludes, the occasional fiddle, and sudden shifts in rhythm that add distinction to the effort overall. Consequently, a stunner of a song like the sprightly “Kick Drum Heart” or the heart-wrenching “Laundry Room” morph into a tour de force, exceptional examples of the band’s duality to shift the dynamic and alter the mood accordingly.
Suffice it to say that I and Love and You is not only a contender for album of the year, but also an album for the ages. And like those three words in the title, it resonates long and hard. (Sony 2009)
After evoking obvious reverence for classic Americana on their self-titled studio debut, the Band of Heathens morph their roots rock regimen with hints of blues, soul and a swampy moan. The allusions to the Band are still there of course – the new album’s “L.A. County Blues,” “What’s This World” and “Look At Miss Ohio” instantly reaffirm those references – but this time around they expand their palate, journeying up the Mississippi with “Golden Calf,” emulating an old-time gospel choir on “Shine a Light” and taking a funky furlough via “You’re Gonna Miss Me” and “Somebody Tell Me The Truth.” Varying the pace from unassuming shuffles to tattered refrains, the group colors the arrangements with rustic embellishment – banjo, Wurlitzer piano, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and forlorn vocals – clearly enhancing the set’s distinct retro feel. An able demonstration of genuine down-home resolve, One Foot in the Ether provides the band taking a sure step forward.