Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea - Drag City - 2008

What a great fucking week for album releases (and yes I’m ignoring that whole Coldplay thing). Not only do we have Wolf Parade’s “At Mount Zoomer” which I have fallen instantly in love with, we also have another album from the venerable Silver Jews, and I have totally fallen in love with this album also. It is just a great album, so soft spoken, so alt-country, yet so good. There are some humorous moments, some great country jams, and just all around solid songs from top to bottom on this one.

Certainly this follows in the alt-country kinds of tradition that they have followed in the past, and it is just brilliantly executed here. The sound of the album is a somewhat quirky/off-center kind of country sound, with Berman’s voice the real defining characteristic of the songs, with some really sharp lyrics and great vocal work, with a style very similar to the great Johnny Cash. This album never really trends into the “indie” rock areas, and stays very true to itself throughout, with a very slow, pensive, old school country kind of feel to it throughout. There are some great backing vocal harmonies fleshing out Berman’s leading vocals, some shimmering country-esque guitar licks throughout, and even some slow-jam island style rhythms going on in “Party Barge”.

It kicks off with a kind of stuttering rock jam “What It Is Not But Could Be If” and then jumps into a very bluesy kind of vibe on “Aloysius Bluegrass Drummer”, with some honky tonk piano, and a great little guitar riff thrown in. It is a great song. “Suffering Jukebox” is a very catchy slow jam, with some great hooks and vocal harmonies thrown in, very similar to “Strange Victory, Strange Defeat”. “San Francisco, BC”, “Candy Jail” and “Party Barge” all are great upbeat songs with a great vibe, ranging from bluesy on “San Francisco, BC” to more island rhythms on “Party Barge”. “We Could Be Looking For The Same Thing” is just a great country duet song to end the album that just works absolutely perfect, and it would also work perfectly as a drunken bar band/karaoke song.

Despite my lack of a lot of familiarity with their back catalog, I really like this album a whole lot, and I think it has just the perfect amount of quirkiness and catchiness to be a really great album. It has a beautiful country vibe and skirts the lines between the country and blues genres perfectly, with just a tinge of modern “indie” rock kind of stylings thrown in there to keep it interesting. Make no mistake though, this album stays true to its roots, and it is all the stronger for it.

BV Rate: 87

Silver Jews - Suffering Jukebox - From Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Silver Jews - Strange Victory, Strange Defeat - From Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea