Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo (2010)

I just wrote about Avi Buffalo's second album here in this blog a couple of weeks ago. This predecessor is not quite as impressive of an album, but it's still a great one, and definitely for a debut album. This album has a bit more of a slacker sound than At Best Cuckold. It reminds me of Mac de Marco in places, although I think Avi Buffalo is a better songwriter than Mac de Marco. There are some great melodies in these songs. He's also an amazing musician and the intertwining guitar lines are really phenomenal already on this album. I was introduced to Avi Buffalo when At Best Cuckold was released and it was introduced as one of the albums of the month at Rough Trade. Since then I've been listening to Avi Buffalo a lot and I also wanted to find out about his previous album, so I bought it second hand at Flash Back in Shoreditch.



This album was released by SubPop and especially around 2010 it seemed to be a guarantee of a great album. This was once again true. A record company that started the grunge phenomena by releasing Nirvana's Bleach more than 20 years earlier had, by 2000's moved on to releasing amazing indie rock and pop albums. I actually went to the libraries in Helsinki back in the day and just scouted for any albums released by SubPop and borrowed them. I found many good bands this way.

The album kicks off beautifully with electric guitar harmonies in Truth Sets In. This song is a good starting song, because it doesn't reveal all the potential yet, but it sets the mood with great sounds. It's followed by a fantastic song What's It In For, which is, I guess, a typical Avi Buffalo song with great jumpy melodies and catchy chorus. The backing vocals remind me of The Shins. Coaxed is a truely dreamy experience. The chiming guitars and the wavy bass lines make me visualise a beach somewhere in the tropic. Five Little Sluts has a great inventive melody. It's difficult to understand how anyone is capable to get out of normal songwriting conventions and write a great melody like this. Jessica is a ballad that has an amazingly beautiful melody. Avi Buffalo's unique voice works brilliantly in this song. One Last is a duet with Rebecca Coleman. This song is great for lazy summer days. Remember the Last Time is a great seven and a half minute song with some guitar solos that Avi Buffalo really knows how to play.

What's It In For is the most obvious hit song from the album and sure enough, it also has a great music video. The band is playing their music in a magical forest where lots of things in rainbow colours grow. Watching this video makes me really want to see Avi Buffalo live. The guitar playing and the amazing organ sounds make this music absolutely gorgeous.

I already said this with At Best Cuckold, but Avi Buffalo is really one of the most interesting singer-songwriters of the last decade and it's the one artist whose albums I've listened to over and over again at this time when all the music in the world is available with a push of a button. I can't recommend his music highly enough.

Listen to the album on Spotify.