Kevin Bronson on June 5th, 2014

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When Avi Buffalo’s self-titled debut came out four long springs ago, Avi Zahner-Isenberg was hailed as a teen prodigy, which was probably true, although it turned out he wasn’t ready for all the hailing. In the time since, the singer-guitarist has gone through an experimental period, a difficult period, a growing-up period and a creative period – the latter yielding the new Avi Buffalo album “At Best Cuckold,” due Sept. 9 via SubPop. Recorded in part at John Vanderslice’s Tiny Telephone studio in the Bay Area, finished at various locations around L.A. and made with longtime collaborators including Sheridan Riley, the album is “kind of my tribute to the ballad,” Zahner-Isenberg, now 23, says in the press notice announcing “At Best Cuckold.” What to infer from the title is anyone’s guess, but the title/chorus of the first single might be telling. All hail Avi? Maybe he’s taking the long view: “So what.”

||| Stream: “So What”

||| Previously: “How Come?,” Avi Buffalo in Paris, “Avi Buffalo,” “What’s In It For,” an interview from early 2009.

Photo from a February solo set, by Carl Pocket