Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains
Purple Mountains was the new nom-de-rock of David Berman from the Silver Jews. Purple Mountains is also the name of what will be known as one of his greatest albums – full of double-jointed wit and wisdom, up to the neck in his special recipe of hand-crafted country-rock joys and sorrows that sing legendary in cracked and broken hearts. The songs are produced impeccably by Woods’ Jarvis Taveniere and Jeremy Earle, buffed up like a hardwood floor ready to be well-trod upon for an evening of romance and dance.
Berman’s songwriter’s bone’s never been laid more bare, either – if redemption doesn’t come on the lyric sheet, the act of putting these songs into singing, dancing form allows them their nest end – to provide infotainment for others, embodying moments of life and truth via music that elevates with disarming warmth and a reassuring commonality, even as David himself stands outside the communal campfires.
In early August, less than a month after Purple Mountains debuted and just days before their first tour, David Berman died. The singer Jeffrey Lewis had become friends with Berman – even producing an absolutely incredible piece of art, depicting visual interpretations of Berman’s lifelong works – and it was his eulogy that hit us hardest. “I told him that I think his album (Purple Mountains) is great, but that is like reading someone’s suicide note and telling them it has nice grammar”. It’s all there, and after losing Berman, each listen is harder and harder. “The dead know what they’re doing when they leave this world behind”. The first, last and only Purple Mountains album is perfect, ten brilliantly written songs full of a sweet surface sadness, a deliciously wry delivery, and so much heartbreak in the shadows that it took a remarkably brave and skilled person to write them. It is a masterpiece and perhaps the most fitting epitaph for David Berman.
