Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard

March 19, 2009

I’ve made mistakes before; like the time I went to interview Jeffrey Lewis at The Rainbow in Birmingham and Misty’s Big Adventure were supporting. I watched as a man dressed as a tree danced (like only a man dressed as a tree can) to music that sounded to me like the spirit of the sixties being raped. Anally. A few of us watched, bemused, and propped up the bar. A few people joined in the revelry, and I recall one badly-dressed, scruffy, bearded weirdie in particular dancing wildly and unashamedly at the front. And I, like the rest of my chums there that night, laughed at him.

Jeff sat watching the band; watching us, and when he  took to the stage, the scruffy weirdo joined him: his bass-playing brother, Jack. The shame rendered me incapable of doing anything other than anonymously getting Jeff to sign my CD at the end of the show while he was distractedly chatting to an enthusiastic female supporter who hadn’t openly mocked his brother’s inability to dance.

Since then, my affair with Jeffrey Lewis’ music has been pretty ambivalent. I blame him for the existence of Noah and the Whale and the non-sensical and now ubiquitous term ‘Anti-folk’. With a good fanbase in the UK, cult celebrity on the ‘net (his brief biography of Barack Obama), he now seems to have become something of an authority on comic books -- particularly with the release of  ‘The Watchmen’ this year.

I was enthused to hear of his return to the UK and imminent release of his new album: ‘Em are I. I’m not going to pretend to know what that means or even hazard a guess -- it’s probably a play on words but I wouldn’t say that’s a fact, Jack. The excellent Pixies-esque ‘Slogans’ finds Jeff, once again, in a reminiscent mood -- much like on a previous album opener ‘Back when I was four’, but now with raucous band in tow. Conversely, Roll Bus Roll, is the more traditional New York folk number you would expect from Jeff, complete with sing-a-long chorus and flighty ukulele licks.

Jeff’s introspective, wistful ramblings are certainly an acquired taste, but on ‘Broken, Broken Heart’, a nice off-beat set of handclaps and an upbeat mood is almost discernible. But don’t panic, ‘To be objectified’ is precisely the sort of song you came looking for. Self-depreciating, humorous and dispirit. It’s a twisted paean to love -- the sort that only Jeff Lewis can conjur up; the sort of song that Noah and the Whale so desperately want to write. It’s not all good news, though.

Jack Lewis wrote ‘The Upside-Down Cross’ (and I know that because Jeff announces it midway through the song in the exact manner that David St Hubbins acknowledges Derek Smalls as Spinal Tap play ‘Jazz Oddyssey’ to a non-plussed festival crowd) which features a rolling bassline, twirling piano lines, a drifting muted trumpet, crashing drums and squealing feedback. It’s a pretentious piece of eight minute toss that has no need to be there. And, no, it doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to Hendrix’s ‘Third stone from the sun’. OK? So stop whatever internal dialogue you have going on in there right now.

So when does cool and retro become wanky, pretentious and elitist? It’s a pretty fine line and ‘Em are I is in danger of wrapping its face around it. Though an intermittently enjoyable listen, it’s not Jeff’s best album.With any luck, he’ll drop the Junkyard and give us a decent solo album again.

But then, I’ve been wrong before.

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1. Land of Kush – Against The Day
2. Scratch Perverts – Beatdown
3. Eyedea & Abilities – By The Throat
4. A Broken Consort ~ Crow Autumn
5. Wevie Stonder – The Bucket

Posted in Music Reviews