This is by far my favorite Avett release. The Lowering will always be a very special song for me. When I was 19 years old, my father committed suicide. There has never been a song that hit as close as "The Lowering" for me. The pain was indescribable, like the bittersweet chords of the opening verse. My favorite moment in the song is the line where it says, "So if ever someone says to you "Life isn't fair, get used to it." Then you should say "Well it might be If folks like you would let it be." My life was full of well-meaning folks who liked to pontificate on the subject as if they had any idea...

I must admit that this song made me pick up my guitar again.

currently purchasing the few songs i don't have on this album. love colorshow, love distraction 74, love them ALL; however, i listen to famous flower of manhattan pretty much daily. it's such a beautiful song. and of course, there is nothing that pumps be up like talk of indolence. definitely helped me get thru exams, although i think some people didn't realize why or what i was screaming....oops....

This album is timeless. My favorite tracks are easily Famous Flower of Manhattan and Denouncing November Blue.

After listening to this album on repeat for the past few nights, I have decided that this is officially my favorite of any of their albums

There is no way to describe how this song is so brilliantly placed in perfect melancholy and regret. Never hesitate to help real, caring, selfless people; They go through so much that we can't even begin to comprehend, yet there isn't anyone there to help them, except themselves. The process is slow and painful, but with somebody there to kiss our foreheads and give us a flicker of hope to continue on makes it all the more easier.

The Lowering was the first song I had listened to when introduced to the Avett Brothers. Yet it was different. My brother asked me, "Sis, do you want to listen to the saddest song in the world? It literally made me cry." Curious, I did listen to it, and was amazed at the incredible feeling it had in a song, the surprising talent in untouched by an autotuner singing, the brilliant and poetic story it told, and the beautiful melodies flowing from string instruments. My heart was sold to the Avett Brothers. If an incredible song could start a different, more thoughtful aspect of my life, then something this remarkable can change the world. I have a passion in finding different meanings to each song, and it gives me a clearer perspective on who Seth and Scott Avett are and what they have been through. They have real experiences, like the rest of us, which we can literally relate to, not just wish happened to us. Their sole purpose is to "leave behind the world a better way". And frankly, I think in time they will.

YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH COLORSHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The banjo playing on this album is what makes the Avett sound so unique for me. I hope it always remains a staple in future albums. It always sounds like the Avetts had the most fun recording this one.

love this album.this will soon be added to my collection also.

After listening to this album on repeat for the past few nights, I have decided that this is officially my favorite of any of their albums. My favorite track off this album is "The Fall" which has some elements of cajun influence! This album even features a track which is solely the voice of Bob Crawford! Overall I believe that the band really hit home with this album, it's a gem!

One of the most beautiful, sad songs I've ever heard.. The lyrics are great, but the music by itself can make me cry.

love it

I thoroughly enjoy ever album The Avett Brothers have created, but this has to be my favorite one. I love the raw sound to it.

For many albums, a factor that bogs down the artist is variety, or lack thereof. As it were, many artists administer their single to the masses, drawing attention and sales on their CD, only to punish said masses with more slosh of the same sort. This reaches a low point when the listener doesn't recognize segues between songs and suddenly the whole album is one (inadvertent) slur of musical monotony. And so we come to something that defies that. We come to the Avett Brothers. But more specifically we come to Four Thieves Gone: the Robbinsville Sessions. The variety of music on this album is expansive (which leads to complaints of it being too long, especially with the grueling last track, but let's forget about length for now). And this can be supported by the outline of the tracks. We start out with arguably one of the most energetic songs of 2006, Talk on Indolence. Aside from Slight Figure of Speech, this is the only time where the Avett Brothers "rap" in their music, but it is followed by some fantastically raw harmonies and a rambunctious rock-out at the end. Following this burst of energy, we get its opposite in Pretty Girl from Feltre, a meticulously slow ballad about "the beast with two backs" that gets better the more you listen to it, and one should be so impressed with their hauntingly high falsetto. Countering this yet again is Colorshow, a scream-based piano rock you might find on college radioshows. Distraction #74 follows, a fun ditty about wanting two women and ending up with neither, touching it up at the end with an entertaining play on lead vocals where all three seem to be throwing in their own word to compose the final verse. Beautifully done. But then we get a progression of tracks that may have been placed unintentionally, but part of me likes to think not. And it goes: Sixteen in July (we were young and innocent), Left on Laura, Left on Lisa (a fling that amounted to great memories), A Lover Like You (staying true to a woman), Pretend Love (becoming cloy to a woman), and Matrimony (marrying a woman). They all seem to follow one another like a commentary on lifelong realities with relationships, but I won't read too deep. Nevertheless, the variety of song on Four Thieves Gone, ranging from sub-rap to high-energy rock to ballad to folk to bluegrass to etc. etc., is impressive, yet not pedantic. The Avett Brothers are always modifying their sound from album to album and sometimes within albums, but they never sacrifice musical integrity with arrogance or egoism. And, fortunately for an ever-growing fanbase, we will always have that to rely on.

colorshow has helped me express myself

This is the first album I truly fell in love with. It was Christmas morning when I heard it for the first time, and after almost a year I still can't get enough of it. Talk of Indolence, Colorshow, Distraction #74, and Left on Laura, Left on Lisa are my favorite songs off of any of their albums, and to have them all on one is just incredible.

FTG is always in the rotation during a "get together"....great music, great people, great times!

I love this album, Colorshow was the first song i ever heard by the avetts and i loved it:)

I'm going to say that I believe that I have a healthy obsession of The Avett Brothers music. But when I hear Talk on Indolence I get a bit crazy...I love this song...it gets me pumped before work or for a night out on the town! I always play that song when I want to introduce them to a friend.

just learned distraction #74 on guitar. :] its pretty simple. i love it. its been stuck in my head all day.

this is the album that got me exposed to the Avett brothers! such a great album with lots of wonderful songs.

Incredible album. So raw and emotional. Talk on Indolence is one of my favorite songs - A Lover Like You is probably #1 though. I love the story-telling in Denouncing November Blue..

Again. Every song is so good.

another example of me saying "goddamn! what is this and why haven't i heard it before?" f'n love it!

When listening to the album straight through, it is possibly to miss some of the best songs. All the music blends together and achieves a sound that you come to expect from every song. However, when you hear a song apart from the rest of the album, it sounds even better. Some of my favorite Avett Brothers' songs I recently discovered (The Fall, Left on Laura Left on Lisa, Matrimony, Colorshow) only to realize that I had been listening to them all along... just couldn't tell how much I liked them within the album as a whole.
Four Thieves Gone offers both a great album to listen to in its entirety (don't forget the hidden bonus tracks!) and wonderful individual songs to listen to on their own, or put on a mix for a friend. I used to DJ for my college radio station and played many songs from this album.