In one of the most highly anticipated indie rock releases of the year, Silver Jews frontman and brilliant lyricist David Berman has reunited with guitarist Stephen Malkmus of Pavement and a dozen or so other musicians to craft a classic comeback album. Tanglewood Numbers abandons Berman’s usual low-fidelity style to create a full, mellow sound with a touch of bluegrass and lazy country twang.
Since the Jews’ last release, 2001’s Bright Flight, Berman has attempted to kill himself by overdosing on Xanax and smoking crack. The result of his recovery is an album that is reflective but never excessively sentimental or self-indulgent. Above all, Tanglewood Numbers is a story of redemption, with lines such as “Later I came to find life is sweeter than Jewish wine” in “Sleeping is the Only Love.”
Malkmus shines in the album’s energetic opening tracks, burning through the anthemic “Punks in the Beerlight” and its tale of “two burnouts in love.” Easily the most engaging song upon first listen, “Punks” is also the most straightforward rock-and-roll track here. His guitar is also the driving force behind the upbeat “Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed,” which pairs a galloping, catchy melody with political observations cloaked in zoology.
Numbers such as “I’m Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You” and “How Can I Love You If You Wont Lie Down” tell tales of lost love, time and youth. The moving closing track “There is a Place” starts out somber (“there is a place past the blues I never want to see again”) but accelerates into a powerful, chaotic and triumphant ending as Berman repeats the line “I saw God’s shadow in this world.”
More than just a songwriter, David Berman is a true poet, creating abstract imagery that makes inexplicable sense. No musician today better expresses the pain, humor or beauty of the human experience, and Tanglewood Numbers shows Berman doing so at his best.
