Carole Perkins
Sept. 14, 2009
Since signing to record label, American, in July 2008, The Avett Brothers have hurdled like juggernauts; as opening act for the Dave Matthews Band, named a Best New Artist to watch by Rolling Stone, gracing the cover of Paste Magazine, approved by Oprah Winfrey, mentioned in Vanity Fair , extolled by writer John Grogan of Marley and Me and actor Rainn Wilson who plays Dwight Shrute on NBC’s, The Office.
Paradoxically, the glory of worldly fame is not celebrated in I and Love and You. The onus to perform and the inevitable vicissitudes of success resonate in the lyrics to their songs, ruminations of weary travelers whose peregrinations have left them disillusioned and exhausted. Ten of the thirteen songs lie heavy as wet wool blankets sodden with themes of self-doubt, loneliness, and the ugliness of greed.
While Scott Avett plays banjo in only three songs, his twangy picking is distinctive and succinct. Joe Kwon delivers an exemplarity cello performance as notes weave and linger with ethereal luminosity. Scott’s younger brother Seth’s guitar adroitly channels velvety classics such as James Taylor’s Fire and Rain, Bob Crawford’s thunking stand- up bass anchors the tracks.
The Avett Brother’s 2007 Ramseur Records produced CD, Emotionalism, serves as harbinger to I and Love and You. The title track, I and Love and You, implores Brooklyn to take them in much in the same vein as Emotionalism’s lyrics to
A heavy piano solo, shades of the Beatles, Let It Be, accompanied by a stellar cello performance by Joe Kwon opens the song.
Oh Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in/ are you aware of where I’ve been/my hands they shake my head it spins/ oh Brooklyn, Brooklyn, let me in.
What you were then I am today/ look at the things I do/ dumbed down and numbed by time and age/ your dreams the catch the worlds a cage/ the highway sets stage/ all exits look the same.
A return to more traditional Avett roots is Seth’s endearing love song, January Wedding. Scott’s banjo converses with guitar ala the prelude to Dueling Banjos before diving into a crashing crescendo of strings and snare.
And I was sick with heartache and she was sick like Audrey Hepburn when I met her/ but we will both surrender/ true love is not the kind of thing you turn down/ don’t ever turn it down/ and in January we’re getting married/ yeah in January we’re getting married.
Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise, commences with a powerful hymnal style piano baseline and sinuous cello notes.
There’s a darkness upon me that’s flooded in light/ in the fine print that tell me what’s wrong and what’s right/And it comes in black and it comes in white and I’m frightened by those who don’t see it./
There was a dream and one day I could see it/like a bird in the cage I broke in and demanded that somebody free it / and there was a kid with a head full of doubt so I’ll scream ‘til I die or the last of those bad thoughts are finally out.
Rat a tat tat, rat a tat tat drums shake the fourth track, And It Spead. Abruptly, the din is softened with gentle guitar and Seth’s sunny voice.
There was light in the room then you left and it was through/ then the frost started in my toes and fingertips. And it spread and it spread into my heart/ then for I don’t know how long, I settled in to doing wrong and as the wind fills the sails come the thought to hurt myself.
The Perfect Space is part mournful symphony and part full- out rock with Scott’s wistful voice singing:
I wanna have friends that I can trust that love me for the man I’ve become not the man that I was/ and I want to have friends that let me be all alone when being alone is all that I need/ I want to fit in to the perfect space, fill natural and safe in a volatile place.
Ten Thousand Words is a brilliant epic featuring heart wrenching cord changes and a light guitar melody Seth’s impeccable harmony floats like a summer sheet over Scott’s gravely voice.
And after we are through ten years and making it to be the most glorious debuts/I’ll come back home without my things ‘cause the clothes I ware out there I will not wear around you/ and they’ll be quick to point out our shortcomings and how the experts all have had their doubts/ ain’t it like most people, I’m no different, we love to talk on things we don’t know about.
With a signature chortle and caterwaul, Seth lightens the tone with Kick Drum Heart. He borrows a stuttering ruse from Emotionalism’s, Will You Return?, and a dash of Jamaican laced flavor from Pretty Girl from
F-f-f-footprints over the snow/ the fabric of the lonely/c-c-c- covering only the fables and hands/ the rest is out in the cold holding the last of the season f-f-f-freezing/Yeah/ my my my heart like a kick drum.
Thump…thump thump thump….thump thump the song ends with the kick drum sounding like a heart beat.
While watching Scott in a live show whip the crowd into frenzy, beckoning with his arms to “take you all for a ride,” is a very different experience than listening to the smoother more melodious version, Laundry Room it is no less titillating. The band kicks their heels up at the end in an unexpected hoe-down circa 2003
Don’t push me out/just a little longer/ stall your mother/disregard your father’s words/ keep your clothes on /I’ve got all that I can take/ teach me how to use the love the people say you make.
Close the laundry room door/tiptoe across the floor/ keep your clothes on I’ve got all I can take/teach me how to use the love that people say you make.
Break this tired old routine and this time don’t make me leave/ I am a breathing time machine/I’ll take you for a ride.
Ill with Want summons a piano funeral dirge with Scott conjuring shades of Gram Parsons, In My Hour of Darkness, from GP/Grievous Angel.
I am sick with wanting and its evil and it’s daunting /now lay to waste/ I am lost in greed this time it’s definitely me /I point … fingers but there’s no one there to blame.
Tin Man, makes the cut to CD with it’s a smoothly orchestrated drum and guitar set.
You can’t be like me but be happy that you can’t/ I see pain but I don’t feel it I am like the old tin man. I’m as warm as a stone I keep it steady as I can/ I see pain but I don’t feel it /I am like the old tin man.
Slight Figure of Speech accelerates the mood with a fast paced guitar rhythm reminiscent of Elvis at a clambake with bikini clad girls dancing the” Jerk” Inserted in the middle is a stattcato rap- tinged refrain similar to Talk on Indolence from Four Theives Gone-The Robbinsville Sessions.
They say you gotta lose a couple of fights to win/ it’s hard to tell from where I’m sittin. They say that this is where the fun begins/ I guess it’s time that I was quittin.
A slight figure of speech, I cut my chest wide open/ they come and watch us bleed/ is it like I was hoping now.
They said I hope that you will never change/ I went and cut my hair/ they said don’t take your business to the big time/ I bought us tickets there.
It goes On and On is Seth sincere sonnet imbued with a strong Darling influence (Seth recorded 3 CD’s under the name Darling in the bedroom of his childhood home in
I lost my fear in your arms/ I lost my tears in your car/ I lost my will in your candle lit eyes and my love in you yard.
The last track, Incomplete and Insecure, features Scott’s voice serrated with discouragement accompanied in sympathy by Joe’s cello. Scott’s reference to his insecure nature is in direct conflict to Emotionalism’s I Would Be Sad lyrics where he sings about his “easy confidence.” The Second Gleam’s song Murdered in the City is also given a nod to lyrics in this song where Scott acknowledges the value of family.
I haven’t finished a thing since I started my life/ I don’t feel much like starting now/ walking down lonely has worked like a charm I’m the only one I have to let down
I can go on with my insecure nature I can keep living off sympathy/ I can tell all the people that all of the success is a direct reflection on me/ but watching you makes me think that that is wrong/ what is important what’s really important am I not to know by my name/ will I ever know silence without mental violence Will the ringing at night go away.
Veteran Avett fans raise your arms in a collective cradle, a mosh pit to bolster Scott, Seth, Bob, and Joe. Then rejoice and wrap your arms around the new Avett Brother’s converts that I and Love and You will hook. Welcome them to Avett Nation, it’s the perfect space to gather and celebrate.
