rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Silver Jews started in David Berman’s New York City apartment where Stephen Malkmus sat in, playing Berman’s songs on Sonic Youth’s answering machine. The songs have always carried a casual, irreverent feel reflecting this beginning. While retaining this character, Tanglewood Numbers is full-band, plugged-in rock, where previous releases tended towards country-inflected compositions.
On a foundation of Southern-inspired music, Berman has always written songs with lyrics that come from a self-effacing voice present in some of the best American roots music, juxtaposing desolation and whimsy. With song titles like “How Can I Love You If You Won’t Lie Down,” this give and take leaps from the surface of Tanglewood Numbers, but also pervades it in more subtle ways.
Another high point is the increased presence of Berman’s wife Cassie as a backup vocalist and songwriter. Their collaboration provides for one of the best moments on the record when, in “Punks in the Beerlight,” she sings “If it ever gets really, really bad...,” he interjects “Let’s not kid ourselves, it gets really, really bad.” It is this cycle of playful hope and grizzled realism that has always formed the core of Silver Jews’ beauty, and Tanglewood Numbers may be the best exploration of the theme to date.
– joaquin black
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