THE SILVER JEWS
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Over the years rock has produced its slew of wordsmiths–Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul Simon—but perhaps one of the most notable unsung heroes is the Silver Jews’ David Berman. Berman is the type of lyricist who uses music as a backdrop for clever anecdotes that stick with you long after bar-time has been called. But the real genius of his lyrics dwells in the sardonic, blunt manor in which they are delivered (see “Come to Tennessee / ‘Cause you’re the only ten I see” off of Bright Light). As a result, listening to a Silver Jews’ record can require meticulous concentration because while you hear the music in the background, it always seems to be second best to the tale pouring from Berman’s deep croon (except when periodically rivaled by collaborator Stephen Malkmus’ flair).
With this is mind, it comes as little surprise that Berman’s latest effort, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea adds more than its fair-share of noteworthy pull quotes to the Jews’ arsenal (“Romance is the douche of the bourgeoisie/ Was the first thing she imparted to me”). But with that being said, perhaps the best way to dissect Lookout Sea is to borrow a quote from Berman himself; on the surface it appears to warrant a “strange victory” but in reality it succumbs to a “strange defeat.” In the last five years Berman has overcome a drug addiction, gotten married, survived a suicide attempt, and become “involved with Judaism,” but with all of these ostensible life-changing events to juxtapose themselves into Berman’s art, it feels as though Berman has jilted both himself and his craft.
On the first lines of “My Pillow Is The Threshold” Berman ominously forces, “I take decaf coffee / Two sugars and one cream / I don’t see the use in staying up just to watch TV,” which accurately foreshadows the rest of this half-hearted attempt. And though a few so-so-skip songs are expected on any Silver Jews’ record, the problem with Lookout Sea is that it lacks those two or three songs that make you stop and wonder what kind of a wonderful world you’re missing out on inside of Berman’s head.
“Suffering Jukebox” and “San Francisco B.C.” hint at past splendor with warm choruses and clever vocal dexterity, but ultimately fall on deaf ears as feeble attempts to break the mediocrity littering Lookout Sea. Even “Strange Victory, Strange Defeat” seems promising with Berman posing honest introspective questions– “What’s with all the handsome grandsons / In these rock band magazines / What have they done with the fat ones / The bald and the goateed—but fizzles out shortly after band member/wife, Cassie, butts him out on a poignant duet.
For a storyteller as talented as Berman, cleverly twisting words around will never be a problem, but when raw talent flirts with complacency Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea is what you are left with at best.
-Rick Maturo
Silver Jews: www.silverjews.net
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