Eleven years after the Silver Jews’ swan song “Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea”, David Berman finally resurfaces as Purple Mountains. And the new record is everything we ever wanted and more, with members of Woods as their backing band and producers adding extra catchiness to Berman’s superior songwriting. It jumps straight to the top of our list of favorite albums of the year.
Plus: new tracks by Divino Niño, B Boys, Tijuana Panthers, Drab Majesty, Kyle Craft, Lower Dens, Gruff Rhys, Jenny Hval, Carnivorous Plant Society, Sandro Perri, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Bad Heaven Limited, Olympia, Jade Jackson, Michaela Anne, Eilen Jewell, Kelsey Waldon, Emma Russack, Erin Durant, Asia, and Joanna Sternberg.