The Avett Brothers' Emotionalism is the most contrived record I've heard this year (2007). It's also one that, like my kitchen table, I've returned to, compulsively and without expectation, for comfort and familiarity. My stupid little bromide, maybe. And what the band-- two brothers and a friend from Concord, North Carolina-- lacks in subtlety, they make up for with embarrassing persistence: Song after song, stumbling through country, bluegrass, orchestral pop, and early Beatles-style pop-rock, they never waste a chance to harmonize or wail, to loose one beat-down sentiment after another, to back-pat or console.

Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

Download / MySpace / Buy
Alt. Link