Singer/songwriter and poet David Berman stopped making music under the Silver Jews moniker in 2009 and retreated from music altogether, leaving fans wondering if he would ever release new music again. As it turns out, Berman had one final record in him before taking his own life this past August. Berman’s return to music was a new project entitled Purple Mountains and yielded some of the finest music of his acclaimed career. After several failed attempts at recording a new album with Dan Bejar (Destroyer) and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Berman tapped members of the Woodsist (Anna St. Louis, Jeremy Earl, and Jarvis Taveniere) and booked Jamdek Studios in Chicago. The end result of this recording session was Purple Mountains – an album filled with both the twist slacker country aesthetic he pioneered as well as some new territory. Purple Mountains scales back much of his trademark wordplay, wit, non-sequiturs, obscure cultural references, power chords, and up-tempo songs in lieu of ten fairly straightforward melancholy confessional songs. Love songs are replaced by heartbreak, as Berman separated from his longtime wife and was grieving of his late mother. Album highlights include: the beautifully emotive “Snow Is Falling on Manhattan”; the thematic set reflecting on separation – “All My Happiness Is Gone”, “That’s Just the Way That I Feel”, “Darkness and Cold”, and “Margaritas at the Mall”; and the heartbreaking ode to his mother, “I Loved Being My Mother’s Son.” Purple Mountains is a collection of lovely yet lonely songs that share Berman’s sadness but are also serve as warm as a hug from a good friend when feeling blue – the wonderfully talented Berman will be greatly missed. R.I.P. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Bill Callahan, Lambchop, Stephen Malkmus, Kevin Morby, Silver Jews