Though it might not be known to many fans, visual art continues to play an instrumental role in the brothers’ lives. When Scott connected to his friend, the artist Eric Fischl, for a conversation about the album and overlapping art forms, Seth was “in the back of the bus, drawing feverishly.”

ERIC FISCHL: Hey Scott, where are you?

SCOTT AVETT: Hey, Eric. We are in Deadwood, South Dakota. The day before yesterday, we went to Washington, D.C. to bury our grandmother, who was a general’s wife in Arlington, and flew back last night to Minneapolis and drove through the night to South Dakota. We play tonight.

FISCHL: That’s quite a journey. I’m sorry about your grandma. You told me she passed away in December …

AVETT: She did. She passed away a month before her 95th birthday.

FISCHL: Probably not a world record but a personal best for sure, right?

AVETT: I’d say. [laughs]

FISCHL: So I got your new album and I’ve been listening to it for the last two days. There are so many songs in it that have an old-for-your-age type of feel; they’re philosophical and projections of long lives lived together. I found it very poignant and moving. Are you and Seth doing the writing?

AVETT: Absolutely. Seth and I were all hands on deck for all the lyrics, and all the melodies as well.

FISCHL: I’ve never collaborated in equal parts. I’ve worked with craftsmen to make a print or sculpture, but to actually collaborate where it’s input and back and forth—how does that work?

AVETT: Coming from a painting point-of-view, it’s so different than the solitary approach in the studio, where it’s all about me, or you, as an individual. In the band, every step becomes a communal experience, where removing yourself, nine times out of 10, is the best move to allow the song to be better. We constantly remind ourselves that we don’t care who originated these lyrics or who gets credit for them. That’s not the point. The point is to make this thing grow into the best piece possible. But how it works is different for every song. Sometimes all the lyrics are written by Seth or I. Sometimes they come in fragments and we piece them together in the studio. We lead with our lyrical conceptions first, and let the melodies [develop].

FISCHL: I should say, I don’t know how many of your fans know that you’re a painter, but that’s how you and I met. I got an email from your manager saying that you’re a painter, you like my work, and you’d love to come visit me sometime. I was a fan of your music for a long time before I got this e-mail, so I was flattered that you knew about my work. But, it’s not uncommon that somebody wants to show me their work and it turns out to be disappointing, so I was going, “Oh god, what if he’s no good?” [laughs] Then your manager sends some images and I’m looking at them thinking, “He’s a real painter.” I sent it to my friend Steve Martin, because he’s an art appreciator, art collector, and I said, “Look at this, what do you think?” He wrote back going, “He’s the real thing.” That was the beginning of it.