The Avett Brothers ‘The Carpenter’

Words by Brittany Norvell

If you’ve been living under a rock, or are not a HUGE fan of the Avett Brothers, as I am, you may have missed the first listen of The Carpenter on NPR, but it happened. And it was magical.

The Concord, NC based brotherhood has taken America by storm over the past few years with their crooning voices, melodic tunes, and strongly emotional lyrics. Oh Seth, Oh Scott. Where to begin.

The Carpenter harkens back to the days of The Second Gleam and Emotionalism proving that while they are a force, ever changing the face of Americana music, they are still firmly rooted in making music they know their fans with love and play over and over again. ‘Live and Die’, ‘Down with the Shine’, ‘Once and Future Carpenter’, and ‘February Seven’ are all astonishingly beautiful.

It seems so many songs produced in our modern digital day seem indecent and unrelatable, but the Avett’s retain a certain gentile authenticity to their sound that is hard, if not impossible for other bands to compete with these days. Whenever I hear them play, I feel like I am hearing the truth. Call it my Southern sincerity and my love for the same but if you listen to their entire catalog, and your heart isn’t stolen, I don’t want to know you. You are soulless and clearly a zombie.

In the end, The Carpenter would make a unicorn cry. These Southern boys are speaking to a generation of beautiful, lost souls, and they speak the language perfectly.