| For years now, the release of a Silver Jews album has been met with as much analysis and hype as the indie underground can muster. Following 2001’s Bright Flight, lead Jew David Berman not only seemed to disappear, but very nearly did, entering a spiral of depression and attempted suicide.
When news arrived a newly vitalized and relocated (to Nashville) Berman was back in the studio, the anticipation began to grow. Noted for his lyrical prowess, Berman is one of the few musicians who’ve released a book of poetry that rivals his achievements in music (1999’s full-length anthology Actual Air).
From the very beginning there were rumours swirling about Berman’s new album Tanglewood Numbers. People said that the record was falling apart at the seams and then burned to a crisp in a freak studio fire. Above and beyond all the pre-release chit-chat (Berman’s attitudes towards the online gossip machine behind his work with the Silver Jews aren’t exactly kind-hearted), Tanglewood Numbers emerges unscathed as a diamond-sharp Nashville rock record, punctuated in equal parts by some of the group’s finest lyrics and their catchiest rockers yet.
Opening with "Punks In The Beerlight’s" chorus shouts of, "Toulouse-Lautrec!" and "I love you to the max!" (exclamation points everywhere), Tanglewood Numbers chronicles Berman’s return as an artistic force to be reckoned with.
Sounding like a lost jukebox classic, "How Can I Love You If You Won’t Lie Down" outlines life’s mission statement with, "Fast cars / Fine ass / These things will pass / And it won’t get more profound," linked to hand-clap drums and Paz Lenchantin’s plucked banjo. Given the somewhat more pronounced presence of Mrs. Cassie Berman, it’s little surprise to hear her husband’s proclamations of, "I’d crawl over 50 yards of broken glass just to hold your hand," on "Sleepless is the Only Love," not to mention their vocal interchange throughout much of the album.
Sticking out from the rest of the Silver Jews discography, Tanglewood Numbers comes off as the work of a proper band, and not merely the work of a poet laureate dabbling in rock ’n’ roll alongside a troupe of hired hands.
Back from the brink of defeat, Berman sounds energetic and excitable, even flirting with the idea of (gasp!) touring the Silver Jews at some point in 2006, an event which, so far, has remained but a dream in the most diehard of fans locked in their rooms poring over Berman’s lyric sheets.
"2006 seems like a good year to come out and check out what’s going on. I have a lot to see. Now that it’s an old-time activity, like motoring about the countryside with a ‘driving’ cap and goggles on, I find the idea of rocking out to be quite a quaint one," Berman says.
Given the lineup changes that have graced past Silver Jews albums (not that any of those shifts are dramatic, mind, since, "the band only exists for a few weeks every couple of years, so it’s really nothing like constant," he says), and that the rather homebound Berman’s stint at any sort of public appearances are limited to poetry readings and lectures, the notion of a solo Silver Jews revue might seem most fitting. Not so, says Berman.
"I wouldn’t do solo. I know that. That would be so low – a low amount of fun, I mean."
Cassie Berman (David’s wife), a successful musician in her own right, has increased her involvement with the Silver Jews, playing on several tracks on Tanglewood Numbers. Berman’s somewhat tense tone has been dictated by the web postings of indie-cred bloggers whose fingers often type before thinking.
"We brought Cassie in on the last record. We eased her in slowly so as not to piss off anyone on the Silver Jews board. I would have brought her in a lot sooner if it wasn’t against those guys’ wishes," he says. "Cassie was in a very good local band called Spiritual Family Reunion. They kept getting better and better until I finally put a stop to it."
In terms of keeping a marriage together within the bounds of a band, Berman’s playful demeanour returns.
"Well, first of all you must fit the band inside the marriage. Then you must realize that every marriage has a band – on the fingers of the husband and wife! A ‘wedding band,’" he jokes.
Besides the long-awaited possibility of a Silver Jews tour, Berman’s focus still remains just as much on his poetry as music. The division between what counts as Silver Jews material versus that which is strictly poem-based, however, isn’t quite so clear.
"I’ve never really found a satisfactory answer for this question," he says. "The writing of something for me is something of an independent event. It’s like wood chips in a stream, chased along the banks as they slip slide away."
Promising a flurry of Berman activity in 2006, a proposed followup to Actual Air also appears on the horizon.
"I have some plans for another book — some of the best-laid plans you’ve ever seen. Really really well-laid plans, so it’s definitely going to happen," he promises.
Marking 2005 with the most solid collection of songs in the Jews’ canon, played by the most solid band of musicians yet under his direction (including Will Oldham, Stephen Malkmus, Azita Youssefi and Bob Nastanovich), Berman’s recuperation not only marks a return to form, but a return to life itself.
"The ideological battles are over for me now," Berman says. "I’m off to civilize the hearts of men, wherever unthinking cruelty saturates common sense, that’s where people propagate in the night. Wherever sick fucks have the mic."
It’s good to have him back. |
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