Section:GDN 1J PaGe:8 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 17:54 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
- The Guardian Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019
8
Princess Anne,
the Princess
Royal, 69; Ben
Affl eck, actor and
director, 47 ; Prof
Simon Baron-
Cohen, clinical
psychologist, 61;
Neil Constable,
chief executive,
Shakespeare’s
Globe theatre, 54;
Jim Dale, actor
and singer, 84;
Richard Deacon,
sculptor, 70 ;
Jenny Hanley,
actor, 72; Julia
Hobsbawm,
founder, Editorial
Intelligence,
55 ; Edward
McMillan-Scott,
former Lib Dem
MEP, 70; Prof
Laura Mulvey,
professor of fi lm
studies, Birkbeck
College, 78;
Yoweri Museveni,
president of
Uganda, 75 ;
James O’Donnell,
master of the
choristers,
Westminster
Abbey, 58 ; Lisa
Opie, squash
player, 56 ;
Alex Oxlade-
Chamberlain,
footballer,
26; Sir Oliver
Popplewell,
former high
court judge, 92;
Martyn Rix,
botanist, 76 ; Sir
Tony Robinson,
actor, writer and
broadcaster, 73 ;
Jack Russell,
cricketer and
painter, 56; Prof
Sir Michael
Rutter, child
psychiatrist, 86 ;
Carol Thatcher,
journalist, 66; Sir
Mark Thatcher,
businessman, 66 ;
Sylvie Vartan,
singer and actor,
75; Jimmy Webb,
songwriter, 73.T
he musician David
Berman, who has
died suddenly
aged 52 , was the
leader and sole
constant member
of Silver Jews, a
band whose poetic,
experimental recordings during
the 1990s and 2000s embodied
American indie rock at its most
literate, and of Purple Mountains, his
recent Americana project. Berman,
fragile and intellectual, served as a
reluctant star of sorts to a generation
who rejected mainstream rock’s
macho posturing and found comfort
in his wry musical musings.
Feted particularly for his lyrics,
Berman also published a book of
poetry, Actual Air (1999), and said
that he always “worked harder
on words” because he “couldn’t
rock out harder than everybody, or
overcome people with mastery like
Jack White of the White Stripes ”.
Purple Mountains’ eponymous
album, released last month,
contained “what will likely be
the best lyric sheet of the year”,
according to the Guardian.
Silver Jews, formed in 1989, were
part of a scene that spr ang from
Chicago’s Drag City label, home
to alternative bands such as Royal
Trux, Bill Callahan, Palace Brothers
and Pavement – whose StephenDavid Berman
Leader of the American
indie rock band Silver
Jews feted for his lyrics
The critically acclaimed American
Water (1998), included in the
Guardian’s 1,000 Albums to Hear
Before You Die series, and the
country-tinged Bright Flight (2001)
followed. Now living in Nashville,
Tennessee, and married to C assie
(nee Marrett), Berman was engaged
in a struggle with depression and
substance abuse. It grew worse
and, in 2003, he tried to take his
own life. His rehabilitation saw him
embrace Judaism, release the album
Tanglewood Numbers (2005) and
embark on the fi rst Silver Jews tour,
with Cassie now playing bass in the
constantly changing lineup.
In 2008 Silver Jews released
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea,
touring the UK and Ireland prior to
its release. The following January
Berman announced on the Drag City
messageboard that he was “retiring”
Silver Jews with a fi nal concert at
Cumberland Caverns in McMinn-
ville, Tennessee. He also revealed
what he called his “gravest secret”:
that he was Richard Berman ’s son.
Berman Sr is a lawyer and
lobbyist, whose eff orts on behalf of
gun, alcohol and big food companies
have seen him described as “the
booze and food industries’ weapon
of mass destruction”. He has often
been dubbed Dr Evil.
“This winter I decided that
[Silver Jews] were too small of a
force to ever come close to undoing
a millionth of all the harm he has
caused,” wrote David. “Previously I
thought through songs and poems I
could fi nd and build a refuge away
from his world, but there is theMalkmus and Bob Nastanovich were
also members of the “Joos”, as the
band was known to their fans.
It irked Berman to see his
band sometimes described as a
“Pavement side-project”, but it
was the connection with the more
successful Pavement that helped
win Silver Jews their recording
contract. Their debut EP, The
Arizona Sessions, was released in
1993 and th e extremely lo-fi tracks –
apparently recorded on a Walkman- ensured a degree of cult status.
Starlite Walker (1994), their debut
album, was a more polished eff ort
that saw country rock leanings
mesh with experimental sounds.
Following its release, Malkmus and
Nastanovich , while committed to
Silver Jews, were busy touring and
recording with Pavement, and so
Berman was able to use the band as a
vehicle for his own songs.
The resulting album, The Natural
Bridge (1996), proved Berman was
more than the sum of his band parts.
It contained “some of the most vivid
and unique lyrical writing in the rock
medium since Bob Dylan signalled
that guitars could propel a poet to
something beyond a standard coff ee
house troubadour ”, according to
one critic. A rave review in Melody
Maker ensured European audiences,
but there was no tour because of
Berman’s fear of performing.
Berman in- He was
a reluctant
star of sorts to
a generation
who rejected
mainstream
rock’s macho
posturing
TRIBUNE/ALAMY
matter of justice ... There needs to
be something more. I’ll see what
that might be.” He began writing
a book and developing a TV show
based on his father , but neither
came to fruition. A book of his
cartoons, The Portable February,
was published in 2009.
David was born in Williamsburg,
Virginia. His parents divorced when
he was seven: his mother moved to
Ohio and became a teacher, while
he moved with his father to Dallas,
Texas. David attended Greenhill
school in Addison before going to
the University of Virginia, where
he met fellow students Malkmus ,
Nastanovich and James McNew (later
to join Yo La Tengo). Together they
formed a band, Ectoslavia, making
dissonant, experimental music.
After college the four relocated
to Hoboken, New Jersey, where
Berman and Malkmus got jobs as
security guards at the Whitney
Museum of American Art in New
York , and continued to make music,
along with Nastanovich, now under
the name Silver Jews.
Until he embarked this year on
Purple Mountains, backed by the
indie-folk band Woods, Berman
had lived much of the last decade
as a recluse, working on his blog,
Menthol Mountains, and occasional
collaborations, such as with the
Australian electronic band the
Avalanches. H e and Cassie separat-
ed last year and he relocated to
Chicago, living in a room above Drag
City’s offi ces.
He is survived by C assie.
Garth CartwrightDavid Cloud Berman, musician ,
born 4 January 1967; died 7 August
2019Birthdays
Announcements
Obituaries
Previously
I thought
through songs and
poems I could fi nd and
build a refuge away
from my father ’s world [email protected]
@guardianobitsРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS