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CD Review: The Avett Brothers' Magpie and the Dandelion
American Recordings; Release date: Oct. 15, 2013
By Jeff Hahne @jhahne
The 11 songs on the Avett Brothers' eighth studio album were recorded during the same sessions as The Carpenter, which was released in September 2012. Many times, bands will go into the studio with a couple dozen songs and narrow it down to the best of the bunch for an album, so it's no surprise that the group had plenty of music to work with.
The album starts well enough, with the country ramble of "Open Ended Life" and acoustic simplicity of "Morning Song." The sleepy "Never Been Alive" is followed by the short but catchy "Another is Waiting," featuring the banjo, an instrument fans claim was severely lacking on The Carpenter.
From there, the band starts to lose a bit of its personality as the music dives into somber waters. I don't just mean lyrically, but musically, as well. The Carpenter dealt with plenty of dark themes, but on some of these songs, the Avetts just sound bored. "Bring Your Love to Me," "Good To You" and "Apart From Me" are lacking the typical Avett charm. "Souls Like the Wheels" is a reworked song from the second Gleam EP. No one expects a band to sound the same album after album and year after year as musicians grow and broaden horizons, but these songs were better left on the cutting room floor.
Some people might argue about the production quality, but let's face it — this is the third Rick Rubin-produced effort, so the polish is expected at this point. The roughshod treatment the Avetts give their songs exists solely on the stage at this point. Perhaps they abandoned the effort of trying to recreate that energy in the studio and feel that the processes should be separate entities at this point. I'm fine with that.
However, Magpie sounds less like the work of a band creating a new album and more like a band simply using what they already had in order to take a break and avoid returning to the studio. Think of it as a typical B-sides collection — one hit, a few throwaway tracks and a couple rarities you'll hear in concert so you can get a drink, go to the bathroom or check Facebook.
The Avett Brothers will return to Charlotte on New Year's Eve at Time Warner Cable Arena. At least the band continues to shine on stage.
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