When I first read that the beloved folk/Americana luminaries, the Avett Brothers, were working on a collaboration with Mike Patton, I wondered who is this other folk/Americana musician who shares a name with the maniac genius frontman of legendary bands Faith No More and Mr. Bungle among numerous other projects over the past 3 decades? Surely it’s not the same guy, right? That makes no sense!
Which, come to think of it, kinda tracks….
Mike Patton is a big deal to my buddies and I who were high schoolers in the 90s. Faith No More’s Angel Dust came out around that time and blew us away. That album remains one of my favorites. If you only know Faith No More as the “funk metal” band with the song “Epic” and the video with the fish flopping around at the end, do yourself a favor and listen to Angel Dust. It’s a masterpiece.
We also got into Mr. Bungle around that same time because the cooler, weirder, older dudes at school that played in bands were fans, so we followed suit and got some early schooling on what good “weird” music sounds like.
Patton’s always been a legitimate punk, following his own artistic direction and seemingly motivated solely by his own impulsive muse and not by any aspirations for commercial dominance. Not like your traditional punk (whatever that is these days), but more like the “freaky” kid in the back of class who, when he finally decides to open his mouth, proves to be far more profound and creative than you and all your friends, and unlike you, has stones enough to admit he prefers collecting comics to watching sports.
Lots of us put Patton up on a punk rock pedestal, and so does Scott Avett, one of the brothers from the hugely popular Avett Brothers who were seminal in the folk rock/alt country resurgence in the early(ish) 2000s. Like a lot of folks, my first introduction to them was with “I And Love And You” back in 2008, and I remain a fan to this day. Along with delivering some real stripped down roots rock bangers, they proved to be masters of the ballad, drenching their songs in honesty and earnestness without the corniness. Impressive tunes that hold up through the years.
All this is to say, if you’d asked me to come up with a musical collaboration that could never work, well, it wouldn’t even occur to me to choose either of these because it’s too damn random. But if I did, I’d be wrong. The collab works! Very well, surprisingly.
Or, maybe not even surprisingly. For all his eccentricities, Patton can knock out a more “traditional” style of music when he wants. And the dude can belt. Remember Faith No More’s rendition of “Easy”? This whole collab started because Scott Avett mentioned in an interview that Patton has always been a musical role model, showing that the brothers don’t confine themselves to any narrow style of musicianship either.
That mutual respect is really reflected in the album, playing off each artist’s skillsets and not leaning too heavily in one direction. It’s not an Avett Brothers album with Patton as a guest, nor vice versa. The first two songs do feel more balanced towards the Avett Bros style, but with a “bigger” sounding production and with Patton showing that he’s still got some superhuman pipes, and then the third track takes a hard shift into Patton territory, trading the Americana for thick fuzzy guitar, creepy keys, and Patton’s carnival barker stylings. “Fun evil” was the descriptor that came to mind.
The album continues in this vein, bouncing back and forth between songs that seem more Avett-y and ones that are more Patton-centric, but with full participation from everyone in each. Many of the tracks also share vocal duties amongst the brothers and Patton, duet-style, and a handful could be labelled as “ballad-y”, but with the bigger production that I mentioned earlier and more sinister, darker lyrics than you might expect from the Avetts. At least, they felt dark to me, but of course that could just be due to Patton’s trademark growl.
When you land on “The Ox Driver’s Song”, you can tell the gang was having a good time making the album. Their interpretation of an old traditional folk song, but with a dark, twisted bent, conjuring up images of old cowboys riding the plains. But not the handsome charismatic Hollywood types. More like the crazy sociopaths who rode with Judge Holden in Blood Meridian. It’s a fun foot stomper and wonderfully weird.
There’s a deliberate vibe to this album, one where they’re exploring dark themes but clearly having a ball while doing so. Makes you feel like you’re in on it with them. From the awkward album title to the pretty, but also pretty prog-rocky album cover, it doesn’t feel like the guys were taking themselves too seriously, rather just enjoying the process of making good tunes with another artist(s) from a distant genre, with sincere admiration. Not taking themselves too seriously, but not at the expense of the music. It’s great stuff.
Check it out. I think you’ll dig the tunes and you’ll certainly appreciate how well these very different artists can sound so good together. I hope they do more of this.
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