The thunder of summer is rumbling in

This evening I sat down with a glass of wine and a desperate need to listen to a country album alongside the thunder of stormy Florida. A rainy, grey afternoon of football was all well and good, but every fibre of my being was screaming out for some music, and so I gave The Avett Brothers' most recent effort "The Carpenter" (2012) a crack. 

Again produced by Rick Rubin, this album has more depth and maturity to it than the earlier, more haphazard (but nonetheless utterly enjoyable) 'I And Love And You'. There's still the diversions into rock-y guitar (like in 'Paul Newman vs the Demon' - which I have to admit I wasn't wild about as a song), there's still punches of pop like 'I Never Knew You' - which almost reminds me of a Ben Folds track - and there's still little surprises like the burst of energy near the end of the opening track. There's still a lot of bluegrass-y banjo (see 'Live and Die') and they're still a bunch of straightforward, well-written songs. But in general I think this is a more homogenous, rewarding listen. 

One thing I did notice throughout the album was a persistent use of minor chords, and (arguably over-) employment of the cello. It's an album with more than an element of melancholy about it, and on looking deeper I see it's received mixed reviews in particular for some of its rather heavygoing lyrics. To be honest, it's not the lyrics that struck me first about this album, and while there is some heavy stuff in there, I enjoyed it more for its overall vernacular than for its specific lyrics. Without doubt the heaviest going song on the album is the poignant 'A Father's First Spring', a bald, raw, utterly beautiful love song. I think some of the greatest love songs come, in particular, from fathers to daughters (wittiness Ben Folds' 'Gracie' - in my view one of the greatest love songs ever.) This song is no exception, and it's where lyrics like "I have been homesick for you since we met" come into their own. Lucid and honest, it's a touching moment, thankfully balanced by the upbeat, piano-driven 'Geraldine' immediately following. 

There's something catchy, or catching, about Scott Avett's voice. It makes me smile, and I can't quite put my finger on why. I'm a sucker for his little love ditties (witness 'January Wedding', and indeed the title track, from 'I and Love and You') and 'Pretty Girl from Michigan' on this album is no exception. With all that said, I still get this slightly gawky, uncomfortable kind of feeling listening to this band... that it's not quite perfect, and that - even after 7 albums - it hasn't quite figured out its identity. 

That, of course, is part of the attraction. Kind of like a dorky teenager, this band is still figuring out what it's doing and who it is. And as a former blackberry-toting, policy-advising diplomat, who's somehow found herself enjoying days of leisure and long afternoons in the garden in suburban North Florida, that has a kind of resonance. I'm not quite sure what I want right now either. And so for me, right now, this album is ideal.