It feels warped to relish such fragility, but the anxieties and polluted imagination of Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg are enthralling, if worrying. Four years after his acclaimed debut, Avi is 23 and overwhelmed by the enormity of life – he envies “the fucking free birds” that fly above, and the impending mania of depression is detailed brilliantly on Think It’s Gonna Happen Again. Set to crooked Americana, he explores vivid daydreams – of a man carrying an oxygen tank who is going to kill him and his family (Oxygen Tank) – and, it seems, some lewd post-relationship recollections: “My boner press/ up to your chest” (Memories of You). Notwithstanding the distinctive high pitch of his voice, Avi’s music has evolved from the childlike lightness of his debut’s glorious highlight Truth Sets In – and perhaps that’s the crucial point: the truth has set in.
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