You can’t really judge an album by the first single – well, maybe a little bit – but theoretically, a record label throws a band’s most commercial song out there ahead of the album, hoping to make an impression on whatever audience is out there still actually buying things.
So, I’m trying not to panic about “Live and Die,” from the new Avett Brothers album, The Carpenter, coming out on September 11th. It’s a nice enough song, I guess, more along the lines of their last album than the more bluegrass-influenced stuff that made me like the band in the first place. First, they skip over Tucson on their last tour – to play MESA – and now they just sound more and more like Mumford and Sons and that’s making me sad.
This article appears in Jun 28 – Jul 4, 2012.
Gibson, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. This is a great little ditty that seems pretty consistent with the rest of their catalog, albeit more on the slick-post-Rubin era side. But this sounds nothing like Mumford and Sons.
I’m as bummed as you are about the Mesa thing, though, but last year they were in a weird inbetween place as far as their growth was concerned, and since they were playing a big venue, the promoter (a colleague of mine) insisted that it be their only Arizona show.
It’s not so much that it sounds like Mumford’s songwriting, more that it reflects a more passive sound than what I liked about them at first. Even at their loudest, M&S always seem more AC than the A. Bros did and this lacks much as far as intensity. Again, the album is bound to have a fuller range of sounds – I hope.
Still, this is better than most things, so there’s that.