I Would Have Died: Lovers
Posted by: zac | From: July 23, 2004
Former Georgian currently rolling in MASS., Carolyn Berk's songs are bruised with an impossible sentimentality, every couplet is a romance, marred with an awkward nostalgia for everything in its wake. Sort of like with real lovers, I suppose. Strange, that. With Lovers, Berk's occasional band, every body part, from wrist to gums, becomes a landscape of locked memory. A landscape that she traverses with a literate, evocative grace, somehow transcending the sap that inherently mires the subject matter of love, loss, hopelessness, and everything else mediocre songwriters tend to muck up.
I spent nearly a year of intensive morbid depression listening to Lovers' Star Lit Sunken Ship, and it was enough to keep the lights out for at least another six months. Every song is a lament of disappointment marked with hopeful defeat, classic "music to slit your wrists to" sentiments over admittedly adult-contempo soundscapes. one of my few truly secret bands.
With The Gutter and the Garden, the band's recently released sophomore number, Berk reconfirms the lyrical prowess initially established with its criminally overlooked predecessor, expanding her disheartened vision with a peppering of conditional optimism. As dreary and droning as ever, The Gutter and the Garden expands the band's sonic scope ever so slightly, minor becomes major a little more often, arrangements elaborated, while maintaining the slight Southern sensibility that grounded their previous effort.
Lovers bum me out more than nearly any other band in my CD collection, and considering my loyalties, that's a feat deserving of the Greatest Band of All Time.
this might actually be true. this band is great. sometimes i could listen to the record for days without stopping. that's a very, very rare thing - especially these days.
Posted by: chris at December 23, 2004 07:27 PM
The 1st time I saw the Lovers was simply Carolyn solo-a waif in thriftstore clothing who sang and played guitar with aching intensity-the words were simply incredible.One of the few singers that can bring me to tears(of sadjoy).I own both their releases and can't wait 'til they tour this spring/summer
Posted by: Jay at May 25, 2005 04:22 PM
I went to see Bettie Serveert in the spring and walked in to Cubby's opening set with only 1 1/2 songs left, but WOW. Didn't know who she was.
Had to wait 2 months until I saw the last show of her tour with Soltero at ZuZu 5/31/05. She only sang 4 songs but I filmed them with my camcorder, and WOW again. I re-watch that all the time.
Posted by: john at June 22, 2005 11:46 AM
LOVERS is very intense. An amazing songwriter.
She also lives in Portland now, music blog dudes.
Posted by: eryn at August 8, 2005 12:22 PM
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yeah, i caught her play a solo set here in bellingham a few months ago. one of those great random shows, i had no idea who she was or anything, just that her lyrics totally blew me away. good stuff!
Posted by: brent at July 24, 2004 04:52 PM