AVTT/PTTN AVTT/PTTN
AVTT/PTTN's AVTT/PTTN arrives as an uneasy, often fascinating meeting of minds - a collaboration that yields memorable moments without delivering consistent payoff. Critics agree the record contains standout tracks such as “Heaven's Breath”, “Eternal Love” and “Dark Night of My Soul” that braid roots Americana sorrow with moments of theatrical Patton eccentricity, answering many queries about the best songs on AVTT/PTTN.
The critical consensus is mixed: the album earned a 56.67/100 consensus score across 3 professional reviews, with reviewers consistently noting a tension between the Avett Brothers' homespun instincts and Patton's experimental impulses. PopMatters praises the way “Dark Night of My Soul” and “Eternal Love” create a convincing emotional core, while Glide Magazine highlights a gothic-tinged peak in “The Ox Driver's Song” and Patton's vocal integration on mandolin-led arrangements. Across these professional reviews, critics note themes of maturation, regret and longing, alongside theatrical pop flourishes and occasional desolation.
Yet some reviewers find the partnership uneven. The Quietus criticizes awkward pastiche and lyrical daftness, arguing many songs read as curiosities rather than cohesive statements, and points to tracks like “Too Awesome” as emblematic missteps. Taken together, the narratives suggest AVTT/PTTN is worth attention for its high points and peculiar chemistry, while its mismatched collaborators and uneven sequencing mean the record stops short of a full-fledged success. For readers asking whether AVTT/PTTN is good, the consensus indicates promising highlights amid an otherwise sporadic collection.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Received
2 mentions
"The record closes with “Received”, the lengthiest track, a final statement built from banjo, acoustic guitar, percussion, and a faint, unhurried organ"— PopMatters
Eternal Love
3 mentions
"The most deeply affecting stretch of the album arrives in the back half with “Eternal Love”"— PopMatters
Heaven's Breath
3 mentions
"“Heaven’s Breath” marks the first track Scott Avett lobbed into the mix"— PopMatters
The record closes with “Received”, the lengthiest track, a final statement built from banjo, acoustic guitar, percussion, and a faint, unhurried organ
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Dark Night of My Soul
To Be Known
Heaven's Breath
Too Awesome
Disappearing
Eternal Love
The Ox Driver's Song
The Things I Do
Received
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 3 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
In a voice both bemused and reverent, AVTT/PTTN stitches together the best tracks into a strangely convincing whole: the opener “Dark Night of My Soul” sets a quietly unsettling tone, while “Eternal Love” supplies the record’s most affecting emotional engine. The reviewer keeps returning to how Patton melts into the brothers' world and how songs like “Heaven’s Breath” braid rock impulses and stranger textures, which explains why those songs feel like the best tracks on AVTT/PTTN. Taken together, these cuts demonstrate that the album’s best songs balance handmade sorrow with unexpected menace, making them the clearest answers to queries about the best songs on AVTT/PTTN.
Key Points
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“Eternal Love” is the best song because it supplies the album’s emotional engine with convincing harmonies and Patton’s confessional lead.
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The album’s core strengths are its fusion of Patton’s menace with the Avetts’ handmade sorrow and narrative maturity.
Themes
Critic's Take
Throughout his idiosyncratic career, Mike Patton slips into a new partnering role on AVTT/PTTN, where the best songs - notably “Eternal Love” and “The Ox Driver's Song” - reveal the album's strengths. The record often favors the Avett Brothers' rootsy instincts, and “Eternal Love” stands out for Patton's strong vocals around mandolin strums and fluttering regret. By contrast, theatrical experiments like “Too Awesome” and “Disappearing” swell with ambition but do not always land, while the gothic makeover of “The Ox Driver's Song” delivers the album's highlight.
Key Points
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The Ox Driver's Song is best because its gothic rock makeover and strong vocals deliver the album's highlight.
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The album's core strengths are the interplay between rootsy Americana and theatrical pop, anchored by distinctive vocals and harmonies.
Themes
Critic's Take
Mike Patton and The Avett Brothers' AVTT/PTTN is chiefly notable for a few flashes rather than consistent triumphs, with the reviewer repeatedly skewering the record for its awkward pastiche and daft lyricism. The piece singles out “Too Awesome” and “To Be Known” as emblematic missteps, while admitting that “Heaven's Breath” carries a rare Patton-tinged charm. In the reviewer's clipped, acid voice the best tracks are framed as accidental curiosities rather than genuine successes - they are moments that leak personality instead of anchoring the album. Overall the tone makes clear that queries like "best tracks on AVTT/PTTN" will point to token highlights rather than a cohesive set of best songs.
Key Points
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The best track, 'Heaven's Breath', succeeds because Patton's eccentric campiness and daring production briefly cohere.
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The album's core strength is occasional bursts of Patton's personality amid an otherwise mismatched, lyrically daft collaboration.