Friday 05/09/08 Silver Jews @ The Middle East, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Musicians steeped in the literary tradition walk a fine line trying to satisfy two creative masters.  Lyrics aren't the garden shed variety of obvious couplets, subject matters of lost love, or when all fails, indiscriminate use of 'baby' or 'oooo, oooo.'  As leader of Silver Jews, David Berman has been able to use his simply constructed but devastatingly effective songs against some of the best poetic writing the rock world has seen.  He leans farther to the simpler Dylan approach than the Costello one, where the musical intricacy keeps up stride for stride with the words.  When David announced a Silver Jews tour in 2006, surprising everyone (including himself, most likely), the fledgling live performance was akin to an ungainly foal, trying to find its feet.  This time around he's got the same five people playing behind him - including the anchors of his wife Cassie on bass, and Peyton Pinkerton (New Radiant Storm King; Pernice Brothers) on guitar - and he's far more assured and at ease.  No music stand for lyrics lost to memory, no awkward pauses, no chair to sit in. 

It wasn't like he suddenly morphed into Iggy Stooge or David Yow, but his confidence was high as he strode around the stage in his smart brown suit, loops of mic cord bunched in his hands, delivering brilliant lines such as "Throw my thoughts like tomahawks/into this world that I disown" from 'My Pillow Is The Threshold', or "When God was young, he made the wind and the sun/Since then, it's been a slow education" from 'Slow Education.'  To my ears the newer records shows more than a seeping country influence from his relocation of Silver Jews HQ to Nashville, and the wide-eyed innocence of the earlier material occasionally gives way to a more pedestriant approach ("San Francisco, BC").  Which is quickly rescued by the glorious chorus vocals of Cassie on 'Suffering Jukebox', bending her way around the words like a slow moving, brown river making its way down to the sea.  A brief encore of 'Pretty Eyes','Tennessee' and a stirring 'Punks In The Beerlight' set us out on our way, informing us that Adam and Eve were Jews. 

CLICK HERE to see the show in pictures