#172: Silver Jews - Bright Flight (2001)

Emily: I wanted to listen to this album simply because I liked the name of the band. I knew nothing of their sound or story, but Silver Jews just sounded like they would be awesome. Luckily, I was not disappointed – even though they’re categorized under country! The Silver Jews were founded by the people from Pavement, an indie band whom I’ve briefly encountered after a friend gave me one of their albums. I’m not a big Pavement fan, but I really like how their indie aesthetic transferred to country music. The album is centered on contemplative and introspective lyrics, both a nod to and departure from traditional country music. Some tracks add a rock edge to the strumming guitar and slight country twang, which I suppose is what makes it indie-country. What I’ve said doesn’t really do the album justice, however. The emotion the Silver Jews evoke with simple guitar and vocals is personally affecting, so I highly recommend listening to this one for yourselves.

Favorite Tracks: Room Games and Diamond Rain; Transylvania Blues; Time Will Break the World

Zack: We’ve created a lot of subplots to this blog. There’s the one where I cook food while listening toalbums, the one where I try and get Emily to appreciate rap, the one where Ibitch and moan about the hip-hop album snubs I perceive, and the one where we listen to legendary albums and try to contextualize their significance to modern music (too many examples to pick just one). But one subplot that I think we often overlook is also the simplest: that there is stuff on this list that neither of us would have ever, not even in a million years, have listened to. I scoured Silver Jews Wikipedia page to try and find some series of events, however unlikely, that would have led me to discover them had we never started this blog. The best I could come up with is that I somehow would have become obsessed with Pavement (incredibly unlikely) to the point where I would have been intrigued by an alternative country side project that two members had briefly been affiliated with, although neither play on this album.  Outlook=bleak. I’ve never been a country music enthusiast, and still try and avoid it to some extent, so there’s no way I would have willingly listened to this on my own accord. But there I was, listening to Silver Jews, and really enjoying it. It was kind of laid back but deep. Like easy listening country that makes you think. And yet it wasn’t anywhere near as boring as that description sounds. It was a really pleasant experience, and one that I never would have had (barring me being crippled with Pavement-fandom). So thank you, list. You endowed unto me knowledge that I never would have had without you. Although you still don’t know anything about hip-hop.

Favorite Tracks: I Remember Me; Tennessee; Room Games and Diamond Rain