Emotionalism is my first Avett Brothers album, and people who already liked them miss the raw attack of their previous albums, as they treated American roots music with a garage rocker’s sense of subtlety and grace. Based on what I’ve heard about them, I think this is a good starting place for me because the cleaner studio setting more subtly makes it clear these are still rock ’n’ roll guys playing folk and country. They still value feel over precision, as the ragged vocals that drift in and out of key attest. The songs are lyrically and structurally clever with the sense of humor to rhyme “Gabriela” and “tell ya.” At the same time, Emotionalism embraces the basic values of acoustic instruments, human voices and songs that put something on the line. The best songs get to real feelings through novel means, and I look forward to seeing a roomful of people sing along to songs about “boatloads of shame.”