True by Avicii

            Recently I have been hearing the song “Hey Brother” on TV.  It has been with two different ads (which two I don’t remember), and I have been ecstatic to hear it every time.  This is because “Hey Brother” is my favorite song off of Avicii’s True album.  For the longest time I have wondered why I never heard this song anywhere because it is such a great song.  It’s a shame that most people probably haven’t heard it.  Maybe now that it is being used in ads, they will find the song and listen to it in its entirety.  I know that was exactly what I wanted to do, especially since it got stuck in my head.  Once that happened, I knew I had to stop and listen to the entire True album.

                It is my understanding that Avicii is not a singer.  He seems to be involved in every other aspect of making an album, but not the singing.  Instead he relies on the vocal talent of others, such as Aloe Blacc (“Wake Me Up”), Dan Tyminsky (“Hey Brother”), Audra Mae (“Addicted to You”), and Adam Lambert (“Lay Me Down”).  Most of the rest of the work is Avicii.  He is responsible for the techno aspects that are behind each song.  These beats are something that brings all the songs together, but they don’t take over, which would be really easy to do.  Instead Avicii uses them fittingly.  When a song requires an instrumental portion, Avicii lets that section shine before bringing in the techno elements.  The same goes for the vocal parts.  This type of thought and consideration results in the creation of fuller songs and a feeling of collaboration.

                This collaboration is what has me moving practically constantly throughout the entire album.  There is always something new to pay attention to, and each new piece fits together with everything else.  The only downside is I rarely find myself singing along.  I’m not sure why that is.  The lyrics are easy to understand and they are not difficult to say, but for some reason I struggle to sing along.  In fact, I don’t even get the desire to do so.  It is all very odd.  This one negative, however, does not kill my enjoyment of this work.  It is so much fun to listen to, and there are many great songs.  One of my favorites, other than “Hey Brother”, is “Heart Upon My Sleeve”.  It is a beautiful instrumental, and a perfect way to end the album.  The placement of this song shows me that Avicii thought of every detail when putting this album together, including how to end it.