Live4ever last saw Avi Buffalo at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club, a gig at which he/they premièred new material and reprised his/their critically well received eponymous début album.
This was in July 2011.
Since returning home to his base in California after that tour, the silence has been deafening. After about eighteen months it became clear Avi Zahner-Isenberg just wasn’t working with the standard record-tour-record career path; after three years, it could be argued that he just hasn’t been working at all.
With the sort of gap between albums that only the likes of Radiohead can get away with usually, on listening to ‘At Best Cuckold‘ it’s obvious that the delay wasn’t down to procrastination. What the experience does illustrate is that Zahner-Isenberg – who spent some of the time off learning piano, bass and drum machine programming – has written a follow up which contains much of the youthful primacy of his first release whilst whittling these new songs down to ridiculously good pop.
The net result of this growing up in private is the feeling of precociousness that sometimes crept in four years ago has gone, replaced with a confidence and economy of thought and gesture becoming of an artist not afraid to showcase his depth and intelligence.
With a duration of around thirty five minutes it’s a release that could also hardly be described as epic, so it’s a good thing that opener ‘So What‘ is like a handshake from an old friend. Themed around breaking away from loneliness, it’s timeless indie in form, Isenberg’s falsetto melodies now less forced and his guitar lines clean and immediately familiar.
What’s most notable here, though, is that despite the less than creatively breakout formula, the words seem to be very important, reproduced here in an accompanying booklet, evidently with some pride. The reason for this is less apparent given that he retains a flair for the unorthodox: “The other night I ran over two dogs/And then I ate them” (‘It’s Gonna Happen Again‘) or try on “I was walking barefoot with some blank CD’s/I borrowed weed from the campsite next door” (‘Found Blind‘).
We all feel a little weird sometimes though, and ‘At Best Cuckold’ sonically is an adventure playground filled with lustrous bygone flourishes – ‘Oxygen Tank‘ and ‘Overwhelmed With Pride‘ are full of beige Laurel Canyon melancholy, whilst ‘Won’t Be Around No More‘ may be his take on stripped back country (with a small C). With these sympathetic restorations, and by avoiding the 2014 zeitgeist of no-fi production, the impression is of somebody unconsciously on the verge of becoming a classic writer, held back only by the last tinges of adolescent insecurity; on the exquisite ‘Can’t Be Too Responsible‘ this modern deification is within touching distance, whilst the following ‘Two Cherished Understandings‘ is the best parody-stadium-ballad we’ve heard in years.
Cynics will tell you that despite what the old folks would have you believe, most things in life aren’t actually worth the wait. ‘At Best Cuckold’ is a welcome exception to that rule.
Whilst there are plenty of artists who could go away for four years and be less than missed, here’s hoping for Avi Buffalo’s swift return.
