David Berman and co returns with album number six as the Silver Jews. The American indie rockers have carved out their own slice of individuality in a genre stuffed with too many bands that sound the same. So it is always quite intriguing to discover what Berman has cooked up and served out as his latest main course.
For this album, he has opted to inject a hint of playfulness that has been largely overshadowed on previous releases by the dark humour that he does so well. The witty turns that have littered Silver Jews albums over the years have proved to be a drawing factor for many of their fans, but this new experiment is a bigger jump away from what they have normally divulged in. Tracks like Party Barge and Aloyisius Bluegrass Drummer adopt a carnival-like tempo that transports you to somewhere that the band have never before tried to use the teleport system for. In contrast to this, everything fits in nicely and doesn’t feel disjointed at all – it just different from what they have delivered in the past.
If you are starting to note this album down as a quirky opus that ruins the good work gone before it, then you should click to songs like Suffering Jukebox and My Pillow Is The Threshold. These tracks showcase the strength of Berman’s writing as he chips away at imagery of a forgotten time and a nostalgic setting. Emotion does trickle through the lyrics, but it can often arrive bound with sarcastic tones and wry observations.
Here is a band that can entertain with their calculated blend of foot-tapping indie rock, but also captivate the listener with clever lines like Throw my thoughts like tomahawks into this world that I disown.
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea is an album that will appeal to fans of Silver Jews, but might surprise those already familiar with the band. Nevertheless, it remains an excellent record and one that should confirm Berman as one of the best song writers around.
