The Avett Brothers have always been a musical act that has been quite difficult to categorize. They have tones of Folk, Bluegrass, Country, and Americana with a slight twang of southern rock. Whatever genre they may be, there is little denying that the Avett Brothers are extremely talented musicians, and with their eighth full-length album, Magpie and the Dandelion, the band continues their trend of heartfelt, honest music that strikes a chord with listeners.
Something truly special about the Avetts is they are truly gifted lyricists, able to verbalize emotions which seem indescribable. Their lyrics are powerful enough to make any aspiring writer green with envy, and they have written quite a few “jaded lover breakup songs” that put similar songs by Taylor Swift to shame. In one such song, “Part from Me,” the Avetts croon, “Your touch was nothing more than a child’s goodbye and hello/But it always left me feeling worse when it was time to go.” The lyrics alongside a serene melody perfectly capture the raw heartbreak of a fresh breakup.
Other highlights from the album include “Open-Ended Life” and “Another is Waiting.” The former, with lyrics “I was taught to keep an open-ended life/And never trap myself in nothing” elicits the wanderlust mentality alongside the virtue of keeping things open. The latter is a little more complex in meaning; it seems like Seth Avett urges his girlfriend—or perhaps women in general—to avoid “that conveyor belt” and the mentality of conforming to those magazines “where they doctor every photograph.”
Over the course of the album, the songs tend to fall in one of two categories: the slow, folk ballad and the rowdy, up-tempo toe-tapper. Though the trend itself is not a bad thing, it would have been nice for the Avetts to take a chance somewhere on the album to produce something with a new style. Without a specific knock-out hit, Magpie is ultimately a “broken-in hoodie” type of album—it’s reliable and comfortable but lacking the “wow” factor to make it excellent. That being said, the album still showcases the Avetts’ ability to continually produce quality music and is definitely worth checking out.
