Tim Barry of Avail is a man of his word. He once said that he would never release an album longer than 35 minutes, and his newest release, "Front Porch Stories," clocks in at just over 32. Three minutes to spare. Not bad.
Hailing from Richmond, Va., Avail has even kept its unstated yet understood promise to play at least two hometown shows a year despite its strenuous worldwide touring schedule. Avoiding the public eye like the plague, Avail has still managed to gain a large and dedicated following at home and afar through energetic and powerful live performances and flawless song craftsmanship in the studio.
Unlike so many other popular bands in the punk scene, Avail's sound is not determined by what's trendy in the music industry. Instead, Avail builds from its previous records to create a dynamic yet sturdy array of songs.
"Front Porch Stories" is both the band's second release on Fat Wreck Chords and its second album with new drummer Ed Trask. Although some fans have questioned the label switch from Epitaph to Fat, thinking the change would somehow compromise Avail's sound, the band has put those claims to rest by continuing to produce albums that are very un-Fat.
Lyrically, the album sticks mainly to two patterns, the first of which is addressing the ambiguous "you." Many of the earlier tracks on the album confront the mysterious "you" in some form or another. Several songs are references to various unnamed people from Barry's past who he wants to harass, thank or forgive.
The fourth track, appropriately titled "You," describes some sort of personal conflict involving a broken friendship and centers around the powerful chorus, "Why don't you spit in my face / For bringing shame to your name / You and I know for sure / Behind closed doors / It was you against me."
The album's second most notable lyrical pattern is the standard Self-Searching Adventure into the Depths of Nostalgia song. Sentimentality about front porch memories and images of walking city streets and passing town to town in search of self-discovery are frequent and something to be expected from Avail. Barry gets unusually poetic in "Done Reckoning," when he asks, "I'm clearly unprepared and aloof / And trained to walk without / Though I can trace the steps we've made clearly / so what is real?" Avail has a way of crafting lyrics so universal that the listener cannot even decipher if the song is about an ex-girlfriend or a political revolution.
As far as instrumentation, the album never strays too far from the norms of power chord punk. There really aren't any lead riffs to the songs, and the few solos sound quickly written and occasionally out of key. The bass playing is solid and usually in the background, yet bassist Gwomper finds several opportunities throughout the album to throw in chords or play a suitable upper fretboard lead. On drums, Trask incorporates a good blend of standard punk mayhem with some intricate fills, creating a hard-hitting and energetic backdrop to even the slower tracks.
The heavier moments on "Front Porch Stories" are reminiscent of Avail's third and heaviest album, "4 a.m. Friday." However, none of the new album's songs get anywhere near as angst-ridden as some of the most aggressive songs on "4 a.m. Friday," such as the bombastic "Riot at Monroe."
All of the songs on "Front Porch Stories" are well written and catchy, so it's hard to pick favorites, but I would have to go with "West Wye" and "The Falls." "West Wye" stays true to the Avail tradition by adding a touch of blues, folk or bluegrass to each album by including a bluesy slide guitar intro, but then explodes into an abrasive song about front porch grain alcohol drinking binges and train hopping, finishing off with a reprise of the blues lick.
Another favorite, "The Falls," is the penultimate and the longest track on the album, clocking in at three and a half minutes. "The Falls" is built around a powerful chorus: "It just goes to show / To desert friends like these streets I must be crazy."
The only song I really dislike on the album is the eighth track, "Versus." Although it contains a mellow guitar part in the middle that I find rather interesting, the vocal melodies are fairly annoying and the words do nothing to help redeem the poor musicality.
Overall, the album is a must-have for die-hard Avail fans, but I would recommend it to any punk fans that are either trying to expand their horizons or just hoping to avoid the post-emo madness.
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