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The Avett Brothers follow-up 2016's Grammy-nominated True Sadness with their earnest tenth full-length album Closer Than Together which Billboard says delivers, "...a handful of songs that, while not ripped directly from the headlines, nevertheless offer damning commentary on some of the more lamentable aspects of America circa 2019...the sound of a group sticking to what it does best - singing the truth about the world, pulling no punches and confronting listeners with music that stops you in your tracks, whether you like it or not." Closer Than Together is introduced by the upbeat yet lyrically loaded "High Steppin'" and the yearning for a better world ballad "Bang Bang."
"As our records tend to be, the newest – entitled ‘Closer Than Together' – is certainly led by the personal narrative of our own lives. In this way, there is no massive departure from our continued artistic language. This chapter however, perhaps in part because of our age or our time, wanders inevitably into hallways both social and political. These are songs developed through and inspired by not only what we see inside our homes and our travels, but by the connections we are blessed to nourish, the conversations by which we are surprised and intrigued, and by the far-reaching experiences of our distant brothers and sisters. We are family men with good and evil in our hearts, and the pains and joys in this world are mirrored on the small scale of our own personal existence. The songs herein are reflections of what we are. ‘We' meaning Scott and me. ‘We' meaning this family and this band. ‘We' meaning the strangers we've had (and will have) the honor of encountering all over the world. ‘We' meaning ‘We the People'.
"We didn't make a record that was meant to comment on the sociopolitical landscape that we live in. We did, however, make an album that is obviously informed by what is happening now on a grander scale all around us...because we are a part of it and it is a part of us. ‘Closer Than Together' is a record of obvious American origin – a creation that fittingly could only come about through hard work, measured freedom, awe-inspiring landscapes, and perfectly flawed individualism. The Avett Brothers will probably never make a sociopolitical record. But if we did, it might sound something like this." - Seth Avett