Bright Flight

David Berman, the idiosyncratic frontman of the Silver Jews who spends his days off from writing songs and poems by driving an ice cream truck in Albemerle, Virginia, yet again comes up trumps with a death-obsessed record that is still suffused with an uplifting sense of distinctive humour.

Tennessee and Nashville feature strongly, with Music City veteran Mark Nevers from Lambchop assuming production duties and fellow local boys William Tyler, Tony Crow and Phil Niehaus contributing pedal steel, electric and stunning piano playing respectively. But David has always been a dab hand at hooking up with the best, collaborating with Steve Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich for his debut before Pavement took their kooky pop to the world.

Berman’s songwriting is as captivating as ever, hitting sweet highs and beautiful lows on ‘Time Will Break The World’, ‘I Remember Me’ and the curiously titled ‘Horseleg Swastikas’.

Bright Flight went on transatlantic voyage to be mastered in Abbey Road, currently one of the very few facilities left in the world that can do direct-to-metal mastering entirely in the analog domain. The resulting collection is perfectly pitched – relaxed yet agitated and haunted by tragedy but forever defiant in the face of sorrow. Berman is a unique voice, and this trip is a bright flight of fancy and fear that is well worthy of your companionship.