Topic: David Berman RIP

[holyzombiejesus]

Drag City are tweeting that he's died. I think I'm going to be sick.

https://twitter.com/dragcityrecords/status/1159237481939841024?s=19

[PaulTMA]

......  aghast, fucking what

[Lordofthefiles]

I thought that might've been a twitter "joke". Sadly not.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/silver-jews-david-berman-dead-obituary-868824/

[holyzombiejesus]

This is so fucking horrible on so many levels. It doesn't feel like the right time for conjecture but it feels genuinely heartbreaking.

[good times]

Awful, sickening news. A punch to the gut.

Absolutely loved David, and have been listening to this new album non stop for weeks.

Rest in peace pal.

[amputeeporn]

Horribly, awfully, it sounds from people who knew him that it's suicide.

I walked in late, pissed tonight, listening to Purple Mountains, loving it, filled with so much hope for this man's future. The first thing I saw online was that he was dead.

I can't even begin to get my head around it. Feel like I'd do anything to change it.

[Gregory Torso]

Absolutely fuck this.

I can’t write anything else.

[Gregory Torso]

I’ve been trying to write something more but it’s  pointless. The greatest guy. A real time lyrical genius and brilliant guy. I cried watching the documentary about his faith and I’m crying now. That’s that.

[amputeeporn]

I’ve been trying to write something more but it’s  pointless. The greatest guy. A real time lyrical genius and brilliant guy. I cried watching the documentary about his faith and I’m crying now. That’s that.

Documentary? Please.

Absolutely fuck this.

That's it, that's all there is to say.

[Noodle Lizard]

What a bummer.  I only really got into any of his work last year as a result of Silver Jews turning up on a few Spotify shuffles, but I really liked his lyrics and sensibilities.  Would've loved to see him perform.

[amputeeporn]

Likewise - was thrilled by the new album (my favourite of the year and, as stated somewhere above, the first of its kind in a while) - but was mostly so thrilled by the prospect of seeing and supporting him live.

[Gregory Torso]

Documentary? Please.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0zVzxausyPo

[sevendaughters]

just stared at the post reply box for 40 mins now thinking of something to say. can't.

[sardines]

This is fucking bleak
+ makes one of the albums of the year frankly unlistenable

[nugget]

Fuck sake. Having heard the last album and recent interviews I immediately assumed suicide, which does seem to be the case. This has really upset me. RIP David.

[thugler]

Genuinely found recent interviews and lyrics to be a bit troubling so this weirdly didn't feel like a massive surprise. Love that new album

[jobotic]

I'm afraid his work passed me by but a friend has messaged this morning really upset and affected by this so condolences to you all and RIP.

[DrGreggles]

Only read about this a few minutes ago.
Just feel numb now.

RIP

[king_tubby]

Actual tears. American Water meant so much to me.

[marquis_de_sad]

I heard someone mention the Silver Jews recently — Adam Buxton podcast I think. He's (they're?) an act I hadn't thought about for ages, and I made a mental note to have a listen later. I forgot, of course, then I randomly searched Berman's name this morning to see what he's been up to and the first link that popped up in the search bar was to People magazine. I thought maybe it was something to do with his feud with his father, otherwise why else would People cover him. Really shocking news. Poor bloke.

[good times]

Genuinely found recent interviews and lyrics to be a bit troubling so this weirdly didn't feel like a massive surprise. Love that new album

Weirdly I heard a lot of resilience in the new album. Granted a lot of it is very dark but it’s articulated so well and rarely delivered without a humorous counterpoint that I assumed he was in a reasonably good place or at least emerging from a bad place as opposed to descending into one.

Suppose none of the above really matters given that not only is depression is not only often well hidden (especially by someone of his intellect) but is not really something that works in a linear fashion either

Going to find it hard to listen to Purple Mountains given how raw and recent those words are, so just gonna pop on the first few SJ albums on heavy rotation for a few weeks.

[holyzombiejesus]

The Kreative Kontrol interview linked to on the first page of the thread was a really difficult listen and I actually got a bit obsessed with his well-being for a few days after hearing it. I guess the upbeat nature of the music and the subsequent great reviews, jolly tweets and press interviews misled me in to believing he was ok and I was kind of hoping his death would be from natural causes or something less sad but from what people on here have said, it seems that the inevitable happened. I've just tried to listen to Silver Jews but had to switch it off and there's no way I can imagine ever listening to the PM album, even though it was hands down my favourite album so far this year.

[sevendaughters]

i listened to Nights That Won't Happen, which i always suspected was about suicide rather than 'death', and am just convinced it was his goodbye. sounds like he's fighting singing it. was in floods of tears.

[holyzombiejesus]

Feels a bit morbid re-reading some of the latest interviews but this one is just heart rending.

https://www.theringer.com/music/2019/7/10/20686306/david-berman-silver-jews-purple-mountains-drag-city

Written 4 weeks ago.

Koretzky’s office is directly next to David’s room, so every morning he knocks on the door to stir his friend. “Wellness checks,” in David’s words. He still experiences “treatment-resistant depression,” a phrase he repeats often. In Chicago, in bed, in good spirits, he warned me: “It’s good you came today. For the last four days, I was flat on my back. Last night I called a friend, a younger friend, and begged him to get me heroin. I wanted an exit. He didn’t; he’s a good friend.”

It’s hard to explain how a person can sound as optimistic as David sounded when he told me this. The vulnerability and oddness of those early songs is no accident: He can make those odd linguistic connections and find those sad-awful metaphors because, in real life, he’s capable of calm clarity and good humor mere hours after a suicidal episode. He’s made a life out of that territory, and bears the scars. The mile-marker relationships that defined the different parts of his life have almost all fallen away for different reasons—Cassie, his parents, the Pavement guys, his drug friends. He still has Dan Koretzky. He still has Drag City. And supposedly there are people out there in the world who want to see him, sing along with him, take a selfie.

He told me that he’s only touring to pay down credit-card debt. But this time he was planning to embrace it. This tour, he’s committed to staying to talk to anyone who wants to, Willie Nelson style. “It’s distressing to do this, but if I’m to grow, I have to do things that I didn’t do a long time ago,” he said. “I’m tired. I need to take a few risks. I can’t keep living like this.”

We finished talking after the label office had closed but before the sun had gone down. David wouldn’t be going out that night. He had songs to re-learn, lyrics to remember, only 39 days until rehearsals. Just more than a month before he will try out this new life to see how it feels. He’s really going to try, to make and honor new connections with people. To do better. But that night he had no plans.

[Gregory Torso]

there's no way I can imagine ever listening to the PM album, even though it was hands down my favourite album so far this year.

I hadn't got around to hearing anything from it aside from the video linked on the first page of this thread, and I think it'll be a long while before I can listen to it. Can't hear his voice. It was his voice and his lyrics that always stuck with me all these years since hearing "Secret Knowledge Of Back Roads" on John Peel in the 90s. And even the video for Darkness And Cold, I didn't take that at face value, saw it more as gallows humour or whatever. Laughing at misery, the way I do myself. This sucks.

[QDRPHNC]

Fucking hell. Had it on my mind to check out Purple Mountains because of this thread. Must've listened to Starlite Walker hundreds of times growing up. This is a big loss.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Listening to the Purple Mountains album, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the entire album is a goodbye letter in a very literal sense, as if he had already planned everything and was seeing it through to completion.

I actually don't find that to be sombre, I think it makes the album a greater work of art for those of us left behind.

[holyzombiejesus]

Why would he have booked a tour, started rehearsals and talked about future plans?

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Why would he have booked a tour, started rehearsals and talked about future plans?

Maybe he thought he'd make it a little further than he did, maybe he was just keeping up appearances.

[holyzombiejesus]

Ah, I dunno. There are a few people saying stuff similar to this and I think you're mistaken. Not being arsey or owt.