I feel it necessary to preface the following criticism with my fealty to the band. While I have only been a fan since the fall of 2008, I have certainly felt their musicality in an almost spiritual sense. Indeed, the way the Avett Brothers have created music is such that it, for me, is a supernatural experience, having gone beyond merely sounding catchy or upbeat. All albums prior to I and Love and You have sincerely provided this sort of outlet; that if God had made music to be impactive insofar as it would, I believe, make the world of a more paradisal likeness, then surely the Avett Brothers are at the forefront of such a movement.

That being said, I will now elevate myself to the ether of music snob and say that I believe a keynote element of their musical "meta" as it were is lost somewhere in this album. Indeed there is something to be said about letting the music mature to the point of becoming the ultimate possible version of itself, and this is why the Avetts have opted for longer lapses between albums, especially with the tools (i.e. Rick Rubin's talents and Columbia Records' production standards) provided them; but something of what defined the Avett Brothers is lost in translation. The process as it would happen before during their time on Ramseur Records, was that the brothers would simply go into a studio and jazz out a single take on a song and leave it as it was, in its organic condition. With the employment of a big label producer, it has become more tediously polished, which can be a good thing for some artists, but when it comes to a band like the Avett Brothers, I am not sure that it is. The song, "Slight Figure of Speech" encapsulates this conceptual transition from the old policy to the new ("They say, 'Don't take your business to the big time.' I bought us tickets there"), in which the brothers seem to spite the ones who beg them never to change. In many ways, it is as though songs like Salvation Song from the album Mignonette, or Once I Wanted To Be Famous from their brief side project, Oh What a Nightmare; the meaningful-ness of these songs can now be brushed aside as simply "slight figures of speech," and in a way the Avetts are able to justify the endorsement of their new policy: a glossed-over, more reproducible brand of the same music. Don't get me wrong, because I am certainly spending a lot of time on the criticism, but there is nothing wrong with the music in and of itself (I believe in fact that I and Love and You is beautifully crafted, Ten Thousand Words is one of my all-time favorite tracks of theirs, January Wedding is homely and comforting, and so on). But two things have changed: 1) on a more technical level, the absence of banjo, and 2) in many ways, perhaps as a byproduct of this, the absence of that organic energy so prevalent all of their previous work.

I fully accept that they are maturing as a group, and so whether this means incorporating more rock anthems because that's where they feel their sound is headed, then so be it. What I do not think I am as yet willing to accept is the loss of the energy otherwise only found now in their live shows; live shows which, might I add, are spiritually (whatever that word means to you) uplifting. But it is this same energy that still defines their live shows that once, more significally, also defined their musical foundation (i.e. from Salvation Song--"And they may pay us off in fame though that is not why we came and I know well and good that won't heal our hearts"); and it is what kept their identity consistent throughout a decade of making music even if the music they were making began to branch out into different genres; it is this passion that is missing from I and Love and You, or at best it has been severely watered down. If you do not believe me, compare the studio version of Laundry Room with that of a live performance on YouTube--they are almost two entirely different songs. But thus, this is my qualm with the new album the more and more I listen to it. I do not get that cathartic sense of what drew me to the Avett Brothers in the first place, I just get good music. And for a band originally constituted of both aspects, having only one is not enough. So I grant that they're still making music miles better than the next mainstream artist, but I do not believe being nearer to the top of the Billboard charts necessitates that you compromise the integrity of musical honesty that got you there to begin with.

Nevertheless, my faith remains in their music, and especially in their live shows. And like a devoted spouse, I will love the Avett Brothers until the end of either one of us. Furthermore, however, if my spouse becomes increasingly alcoholic, I will grow disheartened though I will always remain faithful. My thanks is owed to them, at any rate, for having ever spiritually reconnected to music through their art.

Lastly, if you read here nothing else, take this to heart: enjoy the music and performance of the Avett Brothers, perhaps even starting with I and Love and You, but work your way back and discover their development as a band, because everything they have created is truly a gift to the world.