Purple Mountains

Purple Mountains, self-tiled album

John Fisher

February 28, 2020

Why is it hard to admit that life actually kinda sucks? There are personal, gratifying memories we can all call upon when needed, providing some sort of explanation for why more of us don’t just give up. But let’s be honest, life (outside of college) is mostly a bitch and then we die. This album got the #1 ranking for best indie album on AOTY for last year, so I read some reviews and gave it a good listen. Album is incredible on its own. When you add the somber fact that the singer/songwriter hung himself in Brooklyn (August 7, 2019) a couple weeks after the album was released (July 12, 2019) you start to pay attention to the lyrics.

David Berman seems a total wreck at this point, but it sounds like he could really give a shit. “Well I don’t like talking to myself, but someone’s got to say it, hell, I mean, things have not been going well, it’s time I think I finally fucked myself” is a bold start. It ends with, “the end of all wanting is all I’ve been wanting. And that’s just the way that I feel.” Forget for a minute just how relatable that is, and then remember the dude off’d himself 3 weeks after the song was released.

Second track, “All My Happiness is Gone.” Opening lyric: “Friends are warmer than gold when you’re old… keeping them is harder than you might suppose. Lately I tend to make strangers wherever I go…some of them were once people I was happy to know.” How fucking relatable is that? Wonder if this track has anything to do with his previous drug addiction and literally depleting his serotonin levels or maybe he just intelligently accepted the fact that life sucks. “10,000 afternoons ago…life at first and goal”… an out of fuel Berman reminisces. Incredible song.

My 4 year old kid literally came up to me tonight and said, “daddy put on that SNOW song,” and started singing, “snow, oh, ohhh…” “Snow is Falling in Manhattan” is all time and I can almost guarantee some famous New Yorker will catch on to this one and put it in a movie or something. A nice lead into, “we’re just drinking margaritas at the mall…this happy hour has got us by the balls.” Berman is completely nailing it while we’re denying it.

The album drags a little in the middle but also allows us into what Berman is going through. “She’s Making Friends, I’m turning stranger…” is a great opener. He probably still loves the woman who has moved on. I can’t sit through “I loved Being My Mother’s Son” and always skip this track, but I respect the lyricism, and this is ultimately a final tribute to his late mother, 3 weeks before Berman called it quits himself.

The last 3 tracks are all solid with some incredibly memorable lines. This would be Dylan in his prime. Neil Young in his. Berman’s baritone pairs incredibly well with the masterfully subtle musicianship of Woods, the band he hired for the recording.

Suicide is a totally rational thought, life sucks a lot of the time. RIP to Berman.

Listen to this one in a really chill mood, driving a mountain road solo, walking the dog, getting pulled over…f it, it’s an enjoyable, chill ride. Life sucks and then you die. Accept it. And, bring on Intronaut’s new album for March, came out today and sounds pretty interesting on first listen!