First Impressions: Avi Buffalo

Avi Buffalo

Avi Buffalo

Sub Pop

Release Date: April 27

Track Listing:

1. Truth Sets In

2. What’s In It For?

3. Coaxed

4. Five Little Sluts

5. Jessica

6. Summer Cum

7. One Last

8. Can’t I Know?

9. Remember Last Time

10. Where’s Your Dirty Mind

First Impressions:

-A late 2009 issue of Rolling Stone stated that “freak-folk” is an overrated, faddish genre that would quickly reach obscurity in this new decade. What Rolling Stone didn’t account for was the growing popular of Avi Buffalo. The folk-rock group from Long Beach, California is audacious and confident on its self-titled debut, a vibe that radiates early on with the at once orchestral and charmingly low-key “What’s In It For?” with its resounding chorus, buoyant melody, and frontman Avi’s smooth vocals.

- The album relaxes into its pacing with “Coaxed,” a sunny waltz that features muted yet quickly-paced handclaps as percussion and a sweetly-sung harmony between Avi and backup vocalist Rebecca Coleman as they coyly croon, “I nearly kissed my will power out the door.” 

-On “Jessica,” a mellow ballad detailing love found and lost, Avi hearkens a lighter, emotionally more balanced Conor Oberst. Although there’s a yearning in his voice as he strains for the high notes on verses like, “You know I’m kidding, but sometimes/I feel like you’re all I got” and “I can’t express these thoughts without mistakes/No one can make you lose your faith,” the track’s rich, atmospheric quality and themes of acceptance and moving on help transcend Avi Buffalo from lo-fi bedroom-recorded angst to a fuller, well-adjusted sensibility. 

-The uptempo, jazzy “Remember Last Time” comes as an AED straight to the heart for listeners. “Remember Last Time” is an impressive technical feat, highlighting the members’ skill as they seamlessly move through the song’s capricious structure, which switches from jazz to straightforward folk to noise-rock to even shades of psychedelic. Not only is “Remember Last Time” the longest track on the record, it is perhaps the most exciting to listen to. 

Key Tracks:

“What’s In It For?,” “Coaxed,” “Jessica,” “Summer Cum,” “Remember Last Time”

Predictions:

April’s release of Avi Buffalo’s self-titled debut marks a rite of passage for the young (in actual and band years) folk-rock outfit that came of age in Long Beach’s Millikan High School, frontman Avi’s garage and L.A. staples the Echoplex and The Smell. As Avi and company prepare for to go on tour with Rogue Wave early next month, hit up SXSW in mid-March, and then back on the road with the Japandroids in April, it’s apparent Avi Buffalo, with their fluid song construction, eclectic vibe and cloudless outlook, is ready to don their caps and gowns and graduate from the local to national indie rock scene. While Long Beach and L.A. Eastsiders will be sad to see them go, Avi Buffalo is finally all grown up.