Silver Jews-- American Water

(Drag City 145)

"People in Charlottes-ville seem to be a) Not really ambitious, and b) Kind of inhibited," Dave Berman told the magazine, Magnet following the release of his band's second CD, Natural Bridge, last year.

"I think the I.Q. level in Charlottesville is a little too high, just high enough to keep there from being any hell-raisers, or people willing to do anything uninhibited and let go. Everyone seems a little bit too uptight and self-conscious."

Touche and bully for Berman. The singer / songwriter / frontman said something that needed to be said.

Only trouble is this particular social critic who never played live in Charlottesville while he lived here, who backed out of the ONE local gig he was supposed to appear at over a year ago in Charlottesville, who wouldn't be labeled as an uninhibited guy in even the most frenzied of circumstances, and who no one can claim writes songs that personify any form of anarchic dick-wigglin' or righteous supporting of lost community causes was at the same time backing out of an interview with a Grip writer because a reviewer, in the course of a mostly rave writeup back in Grip #1, hadn't appreciated Natural Bridge to the fullest extent of acceptable critical praise.

Uh, excuse me. I don't mean to be uptight and self-conscious-- (I knew I shouldn't have read that damn press kit!)-- but. . . Hello? It was us? WE WERE KEEPING DR.GIGGLES FROM BEING THE UNINHIBITED, HELL-RAISING, LAMPSHADE-WEARING, LIFE O' THE PARTY HE SO DESPERATELY WANTED TO BE?

I don't think so.

Despite his local connections, his Charlottesville address for mail and his many bon mots about Virginia, Berman has since moved his theoretic trouble-makin' ways to Austin, Texas; the nation's premier college town; the town with, statistically, the nation's largest I.Q. average; a place that (for all its amazing qualities and love for boho-thought) could be labeled the Six Flags of anal-retentive academic self-involvement. Way above Charlottesville. Hot, too!

Hmmmmm. . . . don't forget to write.

Did it ever occur to Dave that overly-educated, pampered "poets" might be part of the problem that he himself very succinctly points out in these goddamn high I.Q. college towns? In any case, it would've been interesting to read this auteur debate his half-formed geographic conclusions with someone who might've been able to call him on his shit.

Anyway-- Surprise, Surprise The Silver Jews' new American Water is pretty damn great.

The heavy involvement of Pavement's Stephen Malkmus (absent on the first two Jews discs) may or may not be the root and cause, but there are actual tunes here (finally!) to complement Mr. Poet's sardonic word play and parable-making. At times you begin to understand what it is that many intelligent critics have heard all along in the guy. For one thing, unlike most self-absorbed poets on the Drag City roster (Roll over Bill Callahan and tell this new guy Plush the news), Berman does possess a sense of humor, even if it often takes those of us who didn't get our diplomas a while to sneak up on his jokes.

(Hey, maybe that Charlottesville quote was Dave's idea of a joke too. Let's hope.)

To me Berman's earlier Jews releases can't match the more lively setting of American Water ("People" is the closest thing to a happy popsong he's written yet. Damn good tune, too), and a prime dosage of electric guitar colorings add another dimension to the atmosphere-- the music that surrounds Berman's folk fabling is finally as lively as the words.

Berman's pipes are also at their best-- although some would argue that what he does is more speak-sing than sing at times -- something that's also been said of accomplice Malkmus. But the music is up to the task of support, and those oblique lyrics bend to the shape of the music and not viceversa an important lesson that other would-be musical poets should note. Your words can be great, but if they don't feel like music, you should stick to the chapbook.

Maybe moving out of uptight Charlottesville was the best thing for our Poet after all. American Water should get a lot of attention and it'll deserve it. Still, let's hope Berman lays off his old hometown in the next round of press interviews, and who wants to bet me we'll find him in Ann Arbor or Berkeley around Silver Jews album #5, talking the same shit?

--- Don Harrison