Release Date: 14 November 2025
Song Count: 9
Rating: 7.5/10
Description:
The collision of two grand forces in the music industry has led to the creation of what may possibly be one of the most American records one could ever witness, as around a month back, folk musicians Scott and Seth Avett, known together as the Avett Brothers, released their collaborative project with rock vocalist Michael Patton of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, titled AVTT/PTTN - a stylisation of their names conjoined together into one grander project name, with this album seemingly being merely the beginning of the journey. Presented as a grand opportunity to experiment with Americana and folk sounds and creatively combine them with not only a heavier and potentially grittier rock-adjacent sound, but also unique mixing and production, this album showcases high promises and aims to produce music that is both hooking and unlike most anything out there in the scene.
Dominated by guitars, electronic harmonious backings, varied percussions, faint hints of further traditional instruments such as strings and keys and strong vocals to match the set mood, what ends up as the product to the 9 tracks is a showing of American folk music with unconventional twists all around. The mood switches from gentle and melancholy in songs like "To Be Known", to powerful and intimidating in the likes of "The Ox Driver's Song" - my personal highlight of the bunch - and a thin air of invisible energy as well as authenticity and passion for the craft of music is carried throughout every track, leading there to be at most minimal moments, if any, of one growing any less engaged during the listen. It is clear that, even with how wide-spanning the album is in terms of sound palette and genres being drawn elements from, everyone involved in the project and the creation of this music not only had a clear vision of what they wanted to end up making and having in their hands, but also had more than enough knowledge and capabilities to do so, and that is essentially what they did.
Though whacky as a premise and not without its natural faults, as not every song in the record is a hard-hitter at the mental forefront, AVTT/PTTN's titular album nevertheless shows the precise reason why both the Avett Brothers and Mike Patton are as respected as they are in their fields by taking a collection of different parts and genres within the world of music, balancing them all on its nose, and using them to provide some very enjoyable and emotion-packed songs that test the notion of what American folk music should sound like whilst also simply appealing and extensively intriguing those willing to listen in. A solid record that has been left sitting on my shelf since practically the day it released, and one that I am glad I have gone back to explore, even if it was over a month afterwards.