Avett Brothers True Sadness (2 Lp's) 4/29/15 fittingly never falling into tropes

fittingly never falling into tropes of academic experimentalism or no-wave

is both a portrait of their home-city in an increasingly alienating age

Cliff Williams (bass)

and rock 'n' roll

A man of many musical hats

Avett Brothers True Sadness (2 Lp's) 4/29/15 fittingly never falling into tropesThere's a melancholy to the title of the Avett Brothers' 2016 album True Sadness, but the album's tone doesn't mirror its name. Certainly, there's a bit of a sorrowful undercurrent, something that surfaces on "Divorce Separation Blues," but often there's a buoyancy to the music's spirit, a lightness that's evident even in the burnished bluegrass ballads, tunes where the harmonies and plucked strings combine into a sense of sweetness. Always throwbacks