The Avett Brothers Hope to Connect in Tumultuous Time With New Album ‘The Third Gleam’

The Avett Brothers are preparing to release a new album in late August. The Third Gleam, due out on Aug. 28 via Loma Vista Recordings, was recorded before both the novel coronavirus pandemic and conversations around racism and inequality in the United States began, but expresses emotions and themes that remain timely.

The eight-song album, a press release shares, "delves into isolation, incarceration and injustice, as well as resilience, redemption and love, offering a gleam of hope in a dark and uncertain time." In a video message, brothers Scott and Seth Avett note, "Sickness, in body and in mind, are old news for our species and, in truth, have found us susceptible throughout our complex history."

The brothers call The Third Gleam "a whisper of an offering in a time of blaring considerations." As they explain, "the songs were not informed specifically by the urgent and pivotal concepts which are now center stage; however, as these factors have been and will remain a part of us as a whole, independent of a specific moment in history, the songs of this particular piece do connect somehow to this particular time."

"Isolation, resilience, frustration, confusion, contemplation and hope are here, both in regards to our own lives and as a consideration of the human experience in general. There is humor and love, both for life itself and as it binds a pairing of people," the Avetts continue. "We touch on historical prejudice, faith, economic disparity, gun violence, incarceration, redemption and, as is increasingly standard with our records, stark mortality."

The Avetts recorded The Third Gleam as a trio with longtime bassist Bob Crawford; cello player Joe Kwon, a member of the band since the late 2000s, is not mentioned in the release, but is still named and shown as an Avett Brothers member on the band's website. A representative for the band confirms that Kwon is still part of the Avett Brothers.

The Third Gleam follows the Avett Brothers' Closer Than Together, their 10th studio album, released in October. It's also, as its title suggests, the third project in the Avetts' The Gleam series; the first installment came in 2006, and The Second Gleam arrived in 2008. A full tracklist for the record is below, and more information is available at TheAvettBrothers.com.

The Avett Brothers, The Third Gleam Tracklist:

1. "Victory"
2. "I Should’ve Spent the Day With My Family"
3. "Prison to Heaven"
4. "Back Into the Light"
5. "Women Like You"
6. "Untitled #4"
7. "I Go to My Heart"
8. "The Fire"