Album: Bright Flight
Artist: Silver Jews
Release Date: November 20, 2001
Genre: Indie Rock
Length: 0:35:18
Label: Drag City/Domino Recording Company
Producer: Mark Nevers
1,001 Album Book: Yes
"Water doesn't give a damn"...
The fourth studio album by indie-rock group, Silver Jews, is the first album in the band's career that allows front-man, David Berman, to take the helm of the ship. The album was well received upon release but never broke out to the masses, yet is considered a staple in true indie music.
"Slow Education" spearheads the album, but starts off with near silence for the first ten seconds, before Berman calmly announces in your ears "When God was young". The song features some fantastic, mellow country ideas in the instruments, especially the waning of the electric guitar. Aside from the clever instrumentation, the song doesn't feature much in terms of great musicianship. Berman's voice isn't much of a sing-song voice, and the lyrics don't stand out as profound. The chorus features a female vocalist singing behind Berman with the "Oh, Oh, Oh" part which gives a needed contrast to his speaking vocal style. Although he sounds a little off throughout, it almost makes the song fun and keeps you entertained shockingly.
The intensity from track three, "Time Will Break The World" is a nice change up from the chill sound across some of the other songs. The instruments keep telling the story of the album and make it listenable. The sound Berman produces is rough, as well as most songs on the album, but due to the intense, gritty power of the guitar and the pounding toms on the drums keep his voice in check for the most part during this track.
As mentioned from the other songs, the instrumental parts are the true saving grace on Bright Flight. The drum fills on "Horseleg Swastikas", the country western guitar parts on multiple tracks, and the rag-time credit rolling sound from the piano during "Let's Not and Say We Did" just to name a few. Thankfully, there is a fully instrumental piece on the album in "Transylvania Blues" which is by far the most solid song on the entire record. The intensity throughout the track and the pure talent across each member playing the instruments makes this song a true diamond in the rough.
Aside from the previously mentioned tracks, some of the songs across the album just don't have many qualities that are redeemable aside from the instruments which continue to be the most impressive and exciting parts of the album. Take the second track "Room Games and Diamond Rain" for instance. The combination of the cold day, rain-tapping-on-the-roof feel from the drums, the crisp, clear and seductive sound emitting from the electric guitar, and the slight bass punch throughout all make a sensational mix. The sound of the singing however dull the impressive qualities to something that isn't great to listen to at any time of the day.
The singing issues are very prevalent in the song "I Remember Me". An interesting idea in theory where it's just the lead and guitar chords during verses, and then an explosion of sound when the rest of the band comes in during the chorus. For the Silver Jews however, only hearing Berman's singing for minutes on end is enough to make psychiatric patients go insane.
Along with the singing monstrosity, the lyrics are equally as tough to listen to without laughing. The forced rhyming across every song makes it seem like Berman took a fourth grade poetry lesson and applied it to each and every song. Berman has a voice reminiscent of Bob Dylan in a way, but without the meaningful, grandiose lyrics to save him.
I honestly feel bad for the musicians on this album and in Silver Jews. I'm not sure what this album would be rated without them because those aspects of the record redeem it slightly. I don't think I can recommend this album to anyone. While I praised the instrumentation, it's hard to listen to an album that has such a prevalent part in the singing be so terrible. If you're truly interested in listening to this album, I would say to prepare yourself to laugh at some of the lyrics, such as "Punk rock died when the first kid said 'Punk's not dead, punk's not dead'"...
Favorite Songs: "Transylvania Blues"
Least Favorite Songs: The rest of the tracks
Production Quality:
Mix = 7.5/10 (You can hear all the instruments but sometimes Berman's voice overpowered them too much)
Innovation = 5/10 (Never heard anything like it, but not sure I want to again)
Songwriting Quality:
Arrangement = 6/10 (Songs are structured well)
Lyricism = 2/10 (Interesting, original lyrics but the forced rhymes and laughable lines hurt it heavily)
Instrumentation Quality:
Vocal Timbre = 1/10 (Do I need to explain?)
Instrumental Timbre = 10/10 (See "Vocal Timbre" rating)
Group Chemistry = 7.5/10 (Once again, instrumentalists are amazing but the reason the rating isn't higher is because they allowed themselves to be a backing band of Berman)
Overall Likability:
My Personal Rating = 1.5/10 (Gave the .5 for the song "Transylvania Blues")
Overall Rating: 4.95/10
Any confusion on how the rating is weighted/calculated, please look at my "About" page.
Remember this is all my opinion! Let me know if you agree, disagree or have any comments!
Comments