5/14/2008

David Bavas: Songs of Love, Death, and Trains

By Curt Nichols

Where do emerging singer-songwriters come from? In the case of David Bavas, the answer is from the Appalachian foothills by way of Seattle.

Bavas's latest CD is his second. And though I missed his self-titled debut in 2005, after hearing Songs of Love, Death, and Trains, I can assure you that you don't want to miss this one.

This CD has 10 tunes; nine that Bavas wrote and one Townes Van Zandt classic. Bavas' cover of "No Lonesome Tune" is a great introduction the Seattle-based singer. It's rare to hear an emerging artist do a rendition of a song that surpasses the original, but Bavas did it.

That track definitely got my attention. Bavas has an expressive voice, a collection of eclectic styles and uses an array of instrumentation. However, that's still just the tip of the iceberg. The weightier element is his songwriting, the constant that ties it all together.

Some of his songs tell dark stories, and like Hank Williams Sr., the tunes on Songs of Love, Death, and Trains are tinged with tears.

The CD opens with "All the Trains," a song of hard luck and heartbreak backed by a plaintive pedal steel.

All the songs on the CD have a timeless quality. They could just as easily have been sung by Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Rogers, Hank Williams Sr. or Johnny Cash. But even though those master storytellers may be gone, Bavas is still singing their songs ... songs of love, death and trains.

David Bavas – Songs of Love, Death, and Trains
Mooi zo’n alleszeggende cd-titel. Als we onze slogan ooit zouden moeten aanpassen dan zouden we makkelijk een porch kunnen zijn voor liedjes over de liefde, de dood en de treinen. David Bavas is een jonge vent die in Seattle woont en een beetje koketteert met zijn afkomst, zijn roots liggen daar waar de roots van veel liedjes over de liefde, de dood en de treinen liggen, namelijk aan de foothills of the Appalachians. Hij komt er mee weg, dat wat hij maakt is inderdaad een kruising die je verwacht, donkere folk met tegendraads gitaarwerk. Richard Buckner en Chris Mills zouden dezelfde achtergrond kunnen hebben. Die zouden No Lonesome Tune, van Townes van Zandt, op eenzelfde manier behandelen. (Patrick Donders)

Il Popolo del Blues
David Bavas is a singer-songwriter originally from the foothills of the Appalachians, now living in Seattle, Washington. His new album Songs Of Love, Death and Trains is a good collection of songs but his real musical quality have to explode in the future.

David Bavas è un folksinger originario degli Appalachi ma da tempo vive a Seattle dove con la sua band The Down Comforter si esibisce nei vari locali della zona senza disdegnare partecipazioni a festival importanti come il SXSW. Il fatto che viva a Seattle non significa che siamo di fronte ad un eclettico songwriter in grando di fare sintesi tra folk e sound della Generazione X piuttosto invece siamo di fronte ad un classico cantautore folk con qualche numero interessante. Il suo nuovo album Songs Of Love, Death And Trains, racchiude i tre elementi cardini della musica americana ovvero l’amore, la morte e i treni ovvero il mito del viaggio, della fuga, della strada. Così come le tematiche si rifanno alla tradizione, anche lo stile scelto non si discosta molto dal stilemi tipici della folk song americana. L’ascolto svela un disco sostanzialmente buono e a tratti anche stimolante dal punto di vista intellettuale come nel caso della bella murder ballad, Willow Tree con un banjo che riempie di fascino dark tutto il brano, o la train song Raindrops che sembra uscita dalla penna di Gram Parsone, o ancora la più moderna Julia, una ballata rock di buona intensità. Molto buona è anche la cover di No Lonesome Tune di Townes Van Zandt ma siamo ormai in territori già esplorati da tanti suoi colleghi sulla scia della riscoperta del cantautore texano. Onore al merito per aver confezionato un disco dai suoni molto curati, e questo per merito anche di Kevin Suggs ma ciò che manca è ancora un po’ di personalità, e speriamo venga fuori presto. Certi treni passano una sola volta.

Salvatore Esposito
 

Americana UK 11/12/07

Dark, disturbing but unmissable

Singer-songwriter David Bavas could be singing a set of the most optimistic songs ever written, they could tell of God being in his heaven and all’s right with the world and it wouldn’t matter a jot.

Bavas, originally from the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, has been given the kind of inky black voice that drags you into the bottomless pit of his songs. There’s no escape and something he’ll have to live with.

But it’s the dark richness of that voice that makes him an interesting and original artist and it’s that voice which makes the accurately descriptive Songs of Love, Death and Trains such a wonderfully uncomfortable but unmissable experience.

It’s really easy to hear why he has been compared to the likes of Tom Waits. Although he is slightly less craggy (who isn’t?) the same black cloud hangs over Bavas’s lyrics as hangs over Waits.

Admittedly Songs of Love, Death and Trains is an album that requires a bit of work, not by Bavas but by the listener, If The World is perhaps the most accessible song on the album it still needs to be approached with care. The song is also the closest that Bavas comes to a recognizable ballad but it has to be admitted the term is used loosely, nothing Bavas does comes that close to anything really. The sheer intensity does sometimes render his music a touch impenetrable but any effort is rewarded tenfold.

The base of the album is certainly the kind of grass roots, country that Bavas would hear in his childhood with Raindrops, Cigarettes and Bourbon drawing most heavily on the past but it is just a base, this is a man who ploughs his own furrow.

Whether it’s the delivery or just the songs, the album has a definite poetic feel, as Bavas recounts his Lonesome Tune and Willow Tree you get the feeling they’d be just as good without music.

It’s not surprising that such an introspective musician should give little away in his songs. The suspicion remains that Heaven and Hell among others is drawn from personal experience but it is just a suspicion, not too much is given away and nothing is offered lightly.

Although it’s an album completely devoid of flash and trash, Songs of Love, Death and Trains contains a harsh undercurrent that magnifies and multiplies its effect. It is an album that is conceived , written and performed in stark black and white and perhaps it’s that lack of light relief that makes it so compelling.
(Michael Mee)

HEAVEN MAGAZINE  2/13/08

David Bavas
Songs Of Love, Death, And Trains
Proud Mountain/CD Baby
www.heaven.be

Met zijn vrij slaperig klinkende stemgeluid is het gemakkelijk om alt.country-singer-songwriter David Bavas te onderschatten. De Townes Van Zandt meets Will Oldham-achtige liedjes op zijn tweede cd Songs Of Love, Death, And Trains mogen er echter zondermeer wezen, al moet je dus wel even doorzetten.

*** Pieter Wijnstekers

Translation
David Bavas
Songs Of Love, Death, And Trains
Proud Mountain/CD Baby
www.heaven.be
Because of his slightly sleepy sounding vocals it’s quite easy to underestimate alt.country singer-songwriter David Bavas. The Townes Van Zandt meet Will Oldham-style songs on his second album Songs Of Love, Death, And Trains are nonetheless of excellent quality and are definitely worth investigating.

*** Pieter Wijnstekers

Le Cri du Coyote
Issue 102

Voyons ! Cette filiation annoncée avec Townes Van Zandt et Will Oldham, pipeau ou pas ? Et bien, pas pipeau du tout, on est bien en présence d'un tout bon. Un tout bon qui, dans son 2ème album, propose 9 belles chansons perso et nous gratifie d'une reprise convaincante du "No Lonesome Tune" de Monsieur Townes. Si on ajoute que l'accompagnement du groupe de David, The Down Conforter, est tout simplement somptueux, avec, en particulier, un dénommé Travis Hartnett, à la guitare électrique, qui est une belle découverte. Un must pour les coyotes amateurs de songwriters tendance folk-rock.
(Jean-Jacques Corrio)

ROOTSHIGHWAY 1/02/08

David Bavas
Songs of Love, Death and Trains
[Proud Mountain Records 2007]
inserito 01/02/2008

Ad un folksinger originario degli Appalachi ma trasferitosi da anni a Seattle si sarebbe quasi tentati di chiedere la quadratura del cerchio, la sintesi stimolante tra folk pre-war e esistenzialismo da x-generation (ormai diventata y, o forse z), ma David Bavas, anche solo a guardarlo in faccia, non è persona fatta per le alchimie coraggiose e le strade delle contaminazioni poco ortodosse. Non avrebbe altrimenti scelto di dedicare il suo secondo lavoro ai temi dell'amore, della morte (un binomio che così, ad orecchio, suona non proprio inedito…) e dei treni (vale a dire una buona fetta della mitologia americana della strada e della fuga). Ma le locomotive, come diceva qualcuno, hanno la strada segnata: non possono scartare di lato, né tracciare percorsi nuovi. Quindi non c'è da stupirsi troppo se le dieci canzoni di questo suo secondo lavoro indossano abiti confortevoli, caldi e adatti all'inverno, non importa se quello rigido ai piedi dei monti del Nordest, oppure quello, più mite, della capitale dello stato di Washington. Si tratta di abiti evidentemente già indossati più e più volte, passati da una generazione all'altra, ma non per questo tanto logori da essere lasciati in baule. Lo dimostrano i capi migliori di questo second hand store: Willow Tree è una murder song a cui il contrappunto del banjo dona un fascino sinistro, e non vi sorprendereste di trovarla in un album dei Sixteen Horsepower; Raindrops avrebbe il giusto ritmo per accompagnare una fuga a bordo di un downbound train in compagnia del fantasma di Gram Parsons (che i ricami della pedal steel cercano con insistenza di evocare); Julia sfoggia stoffe moderne, apparentemente più vivaci, ma non ci inganna: a grattare dietro il feedback delle chitarre si scopre il gusto rassicurante della tradizione e il profumo della torta di mele... Alla fine, in mezzo a questa sfilata passa quasi inosservato un abito che venne cucito anni fa da un sarto di ben altro estro: No Lonesome Tune sulle spalle del buon David perde un po' della malinconica eleganza con cui l'aveva modellata Townes Van Zandt, ma va dato atto a Bavas di avere dimostrato buon gusto nella scelta. Putroppo, il resto del guardaroba si perde un po' nell'anonimato a causa dell'eccessiva omogeneità di gusto e di stile. Peccato, perché c'era una certa curiosità intorno a questo giovanotto di belle speranze: la sua esibizione al SXSW di Austin di un paio di anni fa aveva fatto girare il suo nome tra gli appassionati, creando un po' di aspettative. Niente che gli abbia fatto perdere il sonno, a giudicare dal passo tranquillo, regolare delle sue composizioni: ballate a cui il lavoro sui suoni, affidato ad un frequentatore di un certo alternative ai confini della scena Americana come Kevin Suggs (Shins, Cat Power e i Minus Five nel suo curriculum) non riesce a togliere di dosso in alcuni casi l'odore di naftalina... Niente di grave: a David basterà probabilmente aspettare il prossimo treno.
http://www.rootshighway.it/

(Yuri Susanna)
 

ALT COUNTRY NL

Voor mij is David Bavas totaal onbekend, waardoor deze cd op mij zeer verrassend overkomt. Songs Of Love, Death And Trains (Proud Mountain Records) is de opvolger van Bavas’ debuut uit 2005. Een fraaie cd die alle karakteristieke alt.country-elementen in zich heeft: gepassioneerd gezongen, vaardige composities en een bezetting van ruisende drums, staande en elektrische bas, gitaar en jammerende pedal steel. Bavas’ geloofsbrieven zijn ook goed: hij is afkomstig uit de uitlopers van de Appalachen. Verwacht echter geen depression-sound, nee, Bavas – nu woonachtig in Seattle – houdt er een wat modernere sound op na, wat hem overigens nog steeds tot een exponent van een traditioneel genre maakt. Maar ja, daar houden wij juist van. Eén cover telt Songs Of Love, Death And Trains, en wel Townes van Zandts No Lonesome Tune. De negen overige songs zijn rijk geïnstrumenteerd en voorzien van Bavas’ donkere stemgeluid. Raindrops vertoont wat voorzichtige western swing, Cigarettes And Bourbon is een fijne, catchy up-tempo song, maar voor de rest zijn het sfeervolle en intieme singer-songwritersliedjes, al is Julia gezegend met een zwierige Paisley Underground-achtige gitaarsolo. Deze afwisseling maakt van Songs Of Love, Death And Trains een heel aantrekkelijke cd, die bovendien het talent van David Bavas vooraan in de etalage zet.
http://www.altcountry.nl

(Wiebren Rijkeboer)
 

Hybridmagazine.com

“Very down, indie alt-country… dark vocals and beautiful guitars on precise and hearty songs. Excellent.” (Sterling)
 

Salt Lake City Weekly 10/25/07

David Bavas is more than just a pretty face. While his brooding good looks and dark singer/songwriter style merit comparisons to Jakob Dylan, the Seattle-based, Appalachian Mountains-reared musician is easier on the ears than the Wallflowers leader. Perhaps I’ve heard “One Headlight” one too many times, but it pales next to Bavas’ new Songs of Love, Death & Trains, whose subtle poignancy far surpasses the brief allure of Dylan’s one-time Top 40 hit. Bavas comes off as an everyman—if every man could win us over with a strange timbre that makes the hard-of-hearing struggle to pick up. It’s a nice change from the musical version of Jon Lovitz’s SNL character Acting!
 (Jamie Gadette)
 

Twangville 11/07/07

David Bavas - Originally from the Appalachian foothills, David Bavas now lives in Seattle. His style is unique, although his Appalachian upbringing definitely influences his music. However, his sound owes as much to Indie Rock as it does Roots Music. His newest album Songs of Love, Death and Trains was released on October 2nd by Proud Mountain Records. The album was mixed by Kevin Suggs (The Shins, Minus 5, Cat Power). Among his original tunes is an excellent cover of the Townes Van Zandt song “No Lonesome Tune.”(Chip “crackersoul” Frazier)

Drowned In Sound 10/02/07

“…Bavas ably demonstrates that he’s got the whole country thang nailed down…” (Ben Patashnik)