The Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files: Aveo’s “Continent”-al Masterpiece

Time to comb through our archives for another installment of the Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda files, where we give an unfairly neglected artist their due.

Artist: Aveo Song: “To The End Of This Dull Continent,” 2001 What happened: This Seattle trio’s debut album, Bridge to the Northern Lights, came out in 2001; lead singer William Wilson’s wail, at its best moments, recalled Morrissey, while his echoing guitars reminded us of Built To Spill’s most expansive, beautiful moments. They released the follow-up album Battery in 2004, and it was full of more bittersweet gems. But they apepar to be MIA now; they haven’t touched their MySpace page in over a year, and their official site’s domain name has been bought out by a domain reseller. Why it should have been a hit: “To The End” is a fine piece of millennium-flip rock–its driving drums and Wilson’s impassioned vocals give it a compulsively listenable quality, and the rest of Aveo’s catalog is just as wonderful. If they are dormant–and all signs appear to point in that direction–we’re really bummed that they didn’t get the recognition they deserved.

Aveo – To The End Of This Dull Continent [MP3, link removed] Aveo [Barsuk]