Leaving behind contemporaries such as Rhett Miller and the Old 97’s, the Avett Brothers have outdone themselves—and nearly everyone else—with new LP I and Love and You, an album that has shifted the entire musical landscape around it.
Some artists inflect their words so that they appear more significant than they are; the depth of the Avett Brothers’ lyrics, if anything, is belied by their tone. The vocals are just about the only aspect of I and You and Love that could be improved, but as “bluegrass,” the twang is forgivable.
The album really hits its stride with “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise,” a manic-depressive opus. From there, we catch “Kick Drum Heart,” filled with an infectious spiritedness impossible not to dance along to and a chorus that will echo in your head for days.
From “Tin Man” on, we’re listening to a decidedly more frantic album, where every instrument—vocal and otherwise—feels like its being stretched to the point of bursting. Meanwhile, inter-song banter reaffirms our suspicions that the Brothers are, first and foremost, out to have fun. “It Goes On and On” is truly spectacular in that regard, with lyrical acrobatics like, “Love is but an ocean/Unrealistic notion/But I cling to her devotion/And I let it pull me down to the floor.” These lines are delivered with a shaking pitch that sounds like a boat cresting waves.
I and Love and You is rich and expansive, unafraid to engage themes and sounds that even the most ardent critic would be unable to pigeonhole as “country” or “bluegrass.”
As the saying goes, “Ars longa, vita brevis.” If this is true, I and Love and You’s unassailable energy and vibrance will be resounding from speakers and headphones for years to come.
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