If you do a Google search for "the avett brothers new album," many
hits are popular music and entertainment websites discussing their album
released in September of last year,
The Carpenter, will pop up. Except for one. The brothers did an interview (
read it here in full)
with radio.com where they discuss, among other things, Kanye West, Rage
Against The Machine, the festival scene, boredom, and a new album--a
new album to be released
this Fall. I am a little surprised no
(or not many) other websites have picked up on this seemingly large
tidbit of information. (And I know some of you folks frequent--and I
mean
frequent--Abundant Ramblings for the truly hard hitting and
breaking news in the world of music.) Maybe the fact that Scott mentions
that it will indeed include a few songs from the
Carpenter sessions
doesn't quite fit the "big new release only a year after previous album
coming from popular americana act" headline that many may have been
hoping for. But it seems this isn't exactly a collection of b-sides and
rarities. I don't know exactly what kind of album it's going to be.
Perhaps neither does Scott Avett:
We should be releasing an album in September, maybe October. The Carpenter was
the first installment and this is the other part. We initially thought
of this as part two…but we realize it’s its own thing. It’s a very
interesting occurrence we didn’t intend. It’s a nice surprise.
So originally the album was thought of as
The Carpenter Part II, but it turned into something a little different. There are still unanswered questions: Was a
Carpenter Part II
always in the plans and, amazingly and with excellent tact, kept on the
down low? What in the heck does "it's its own thing" and "interesting
occurrence" mean? Were all of these songs written during the Carpenter
sessions? Wait. Nevermind. He answers that:
Some of them are in the works for years — seven, eight years. Others, a
year ago. It was all very different. We have a lot of places where songs
are hiding within our homes, in our bus,
in our bags, in our pockets they just end up here [points to his head].
They’re everywhere and we never know when they’ll come out of the
shadows.
Folks familiar with the ingenuity
that is The Avett Brothers Songwriting Process On Some Of Their Songs
Which They Take Forever To Record But Have Been Playing Live Slash
Tweaking For Ages will be unsurprised that some songs have been
festering for years. So we know that, we know that some songs were
recorded (written?) during the Carpenter sessions, and we know that some
songs were written a year ago, which would be June of 2012, at which
time I would have to assume most if not all of the songs included on
The Carpenter
had been chosen (they released lead single "Live and Die" to stream on
NPR almost exactly one year ago), and it was in the twilight stages of
mastering, mixing, engineering, and finalizing. Therefore, I will assume
that a few of the songs for the new album were recorded
after the
Carpenter sessions. ("He sure is assuming a lot. I want nothing but the cold hard facts. This dude SUCKS.")
By
now it should be obvious that the band has been working with Rick Rubin
again, producer (some would say destroyer of bands; just ask a small
legion of original Avett fans or The Band Perry) of
The Carpenter and its predecessor
I and Love and You.
They obviously enjoy working with him and appreciate what he has
brought out of them and their music. Take it away again, Mr. Avett
(Scott that is. He wouldn't let Seth talk):
After we worked with him we were inventorying our songs much
differently, much quicker. When we brought them to him this time, there
was a lot less to go through. A lot less. The songs weren’t distracted.
They weren’t as jumbled up, if that makes sense. So the editing process
was different. But we recorded more songs and took a lot longer to
record because we decided to take them to the end with the mixing and
mastering. Hopefully it will be different when we work with him again.
Is the "this time" while they were recording
The Carpenter but still bringing in songs for
The Carpenter Part II, which may or may not have been the plan at the time? Or is the "this time" some time between when
The Carpenter
came out and the present moment? "More songs" and "took a lot longer"
is always a good thing in a fan's mind. But does "we decided to take
them to the end" mean that they were
Carpenter demos that didn't fit on the album proper or other new songs that they decided to go ahead and "take to the end" because
The Carpenter Part II
was becoming its own little animal? Does "when we work with him again"
mean when they work with him again on finishing up this album, or are
they already set on having him record the follow-up to
The Carpenter's
follow-up as well? I know that I haven't made it obvious, but I do
indeed have a few unanswered questions about this new album.
To
me, the last part of radio.com's interview is the most interesting
(read: leaves me with ALL of the questions). Take it away, Seth. Just
kidding. Scott again:
I think when we were first at this, we thought of changes as
atomic bombs. Like we needed to change everything from song to song,
from set to set, show to show, day to day. I think we look at changes
now — real changes, honest changes — as something subtle. So I think
that the changes will be understood and natural from what we’ve done or
how we’ve changed in the past two or three recordings that we put out.
We’re trying to make plans
to record again soon, within the next year, so there’s no telling what
it will be like. I think we all know, and we haven’t actually said this,
but I think that we may be bored in some ways. And I think it may be of
interest to us to shake that boredom off because as creators and as
musicians we need that. The fans need what they need and sometimes
that’s different. But we need that. We’re all inspired by many things,
but we don’t get the opportunity to let that be reflected in what we
make. But we can’t stay bored for long. (emphasis mine)
Well
crap, Avett. Thanks for the clarification! Sooo...this album will be
subtly different. Is that your way of saying it is pretty much going to
be in the exact same vein as
The Carpenter, or are you purposely
trying to throw us off track and this will actually be an album full of
angrily sweet emotional rage a la "Paul Newman vs. The Demons"? Are you
truly hoping to get into the studio again within the next year to work
on the super hush-hushed
Carpenter Part III? (I'm only even
thinking of The Carpenter follow-up's follow-up because you bring it up
in the interview. I think.) If so, that would be fantastic. Are you
going to work with Rubin again, as you maybe also kind of hinted at
earlier in the interview? That's cool too. But wait, you're bored? Bored
with Rubin? Or merely bored artistically? If the latter is the case, a
change in producer might not hurt. Producers kind of have a fairly large
influence on the music an artist makes. I'm not saying that because I
disliked your last two albums; I like them both and appreciate how Rubin
has helped you all grow as a band, both artistically and in popularity.
Changes can be good without necessarily being "atomic bombs." But after
the follow-up to
The Carpenter even I, one of your biggest fans,
am going to become bored with another Avett/Rubin collaboration. Sure,
"the fans need what they need" and it's wonderful and possible to give
it to them and maintain being true to yourself. But don't be afraid to
venture off the beaten path. Change it up if you have to. Don't be
bored. Don't bore your fans. Make music that inspires you because it's
based off music that has inspired you. I'm not saying you don't already
do this. I'm just saying don't be afraid to really change it up. Atomic
bomb that shit if you need to. Your legions of new fans will follow. And
if not all of them do? Well, then I guess they love you for the band
that you were not the band you're becoming.
Thanks for reading, folks. I'm not, like, an Avett Brothers fan or anything (read: I most definitely am).
And my one and only piece of layman's advice to assist in boredom prevention (well, other than what I've already written above, I guess): more banjo.
(Note: I wrote this a few days ago but only just now got around to
editing and publishing it. Since then I've seen another interview or two
where the Avetts discuss their new album, and a few major publications
like American Songwriter have picked up on it. I didn't incorporate any
of that into this piece, however, as I simply thought it was fun to
comment on the confusing vagueness and the veering into "musician-speak", regarding how and when the new album was recorded, in the radio.com interview. Plus, I
think the fact that they admit [or at least Scott admits on behalf of
the band] that they're bored is significant, and also raises more questions than it answers. Surely that means changes
in some form or fashion are to come; I guess we'll just have to wait and see
what they are. [Seriously though, more banjo.])
*image via coverlaydown.com
