A great poet, singer & songwriter is no more. David Berman, founder of Silver Jews and most recently Purple Mountains (their debut album was released on July 12th via Drag City) dies at the age of 52. His label home, Drag City shared the following words via Twitter a few hours ago: ‘We couldn’t be more sorry to tell you this. David Berman passed away earlier today. A great friend and one of the most inspiring individuals we’ve ever known is gone. Rest easy, David.‘
His main project Silver Jews, were formed by David along with Pavement‘s Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich in the late 80’s and remained active for about two decades releasing six studio albums. Mixing indie woth folk and lo-fi rock, along with Berman’s poetry and distinctive, sorrowful baritone vocals, Silver Jews had always been the sentimental oasis in the desert of loneliness, despair & desolation.
This is what Stephen Malkmus shared on his Twitter account: ‘I didn’t know about my friend DCB when I wrote this must have been in the air .His death is fucking dark ..depression is crippling.. he was a one of a kinder the songs he wrote were his main passion esp at the end. Hope death equals peace cuz he could sure use it‘.
And Bob Nastanovich in a statement: ‘I was saddened to hear that David died. Stephen called me to tell me this afternoon.
For most of my life, I was amazed by David as a person, a humorist and a writer. It was enlightening to have such a talented friend at a young age and realize that the talent wasn’t always a blessing.
David battled mental illness for nearly all of his life. He had professional help and the unyielding support of hundreds of good friends. He had many loving and devoted fans.
Please try to cherish your memories of him and his words and music including his last album Purple Mountains.
I know I will and I’m grateful that the list of good memories and stories is long.‘
Rest in peace David…
[source: www.pithcfork.com]
Christos Doukakis
by David Berman