The Avalanche

Now that his band American Football appears to be a going concern once again, Owen is no longer Mike Kinsellas sole musical project. However, it still feels like the purest distillation of his musical world view, one where he doesnt have to share his creative space with anyone, and 2020s The Avalanche is a superb showcase for the dour beauty of his songs and his ideas about bringing them to life. Though Kinsellas lo-fi home recording days are long past, having access to a real studio and the services of producer Sean Carey hasnt made his music any less intimate and introspective. The Avalanche has been produced with impressive skill and care (technically as well as in terms of performances), and between the primarily acoustic arrangements, the thoughtful use of horns and string arrangements on several tracks, and the plaintive, unguarded tone of Kinsellas vocals, this music sounds devastatingly personal and honest, beautiful on the surface yet full of troubled thoughts about himself and his world if one takes more than a cursory look. Exploring the nooks and crannies of Mike Kinsellas psyche should be a familiar game to followers of Owen by now, and the bittersweet resignation of this music should surprise no one with a working knowledge of his music. Still, The Avalanche never sounds pro forma; Kinsella can make his shifting emotions understood with crystal clarity and without histrionics, and hes gracefully downbeat, an artist who turned melancholy into an accessible art form. Though happiness is elusive in Owens world, beauty is not, and The Avalanche is a striking testament to Mike Kinsellas gifts, where even sadness can pay handsome rewards under the right circumstances. ~ Mark Deming