After leaving Saosin and taking a break from Circa Survive, indie punk luminary Anthony Green came out with a solo album called Avalon. Green said it would showcase his acoustic side and have a “camp-fire vibe.” Even though the album got decent sales and a lot of fanfare from the alternative community, it remains a very weak album.
The first two songs on the album are very deceptive. ““She Loves Me So”” starts off the album with a simple song that can only be described as acoustic chill-pop. Lyrically, it is a very repetitive song, which is the case with pretty much every song on this album. With that said, this song would've been the perfect opener to Green’s acoustic “camp-fire” album. Yet Avalon is not that album, which is apparent as soon as the album’s single, ““Dear Child (I’ve Been Dying to Reach You),”” plays. Instead of being acoustic, this song goes straight back to Green’s pop punk roots, making it seem terribly out of place in the album. That is until you listen to rest of Avalon and realize that the whole album is a bunch of random songs that don’t really fit together.
The remaining songs seem drastically uninspired compared to the first two songs. The album ends like how it began, with a song that seems perfect for Green’s “camp-fire” album. Yet that album doesn’t exist, and the last song, ““Devil’s Song (This Feels Like a Nightmare),”” only brings out the fact that Avalon is an uneven and insipid experience.
I like the use of "camp-fire album". You used the artists words against the album. It wasn't too harsh, but it seems to tell that the artist missed his aim.
ReplyDeleteGood critique of the album, I think you nailed it's oddity and shortcomings. I also really like this album but I can totally agree with all the points made this review. Smart stuff.
ReplyDeleteI like saosin and used to be a huge circa survive fan so reading this review let me down to testing out Anthony Greens new album. I would like to know why you think the songs dont fit together. Are each of them a completely different style of music? Overall you did a good job of explaining what you didnt like about his new album.
ReplyDeleteYour use of the "camp-fire album" comparison seemed to really help you organize this review. It was nice how you tied that reference in the beginning as well as end of the review.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed some of Saosin's music and have heard of Anthony Green and how amazing of a musician he is but I've never looked into him. Because of this, I took particular interest in what you wrote about. I like that for the title you put that you really do enjoy this album, it gives me hope that I won't be wasting my time on this album. Even though this is a negative review, your descriptiveness still did a good job in sparking my curiosity for this artist.
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