Album Review: Berwanger – Watching A Garden Die

Watching A Garden Die is Josh Berwanger‘s (Radar State, The Anniversary) fourth full-length solo outing and it marks a bit of a diversion from his indie/rock roots. At first listen, it would be easy to dismiss this piece of work as a bit of summer fluff or as a wistful folky, more acoustic record that is a bit out of its time. These reactions would be superficially true – and possibly no bad thing in themselves – and that would be fine. It would still be a good record. However, that assessment would not do this album any real justice at all. Repeated listens reveal this to be a very layered and deeply personal piece of work.

There’s an underlying sense of timeless melancholy to this record. Maybe it’s the anachronistic Paul Simon vibe, maybe it derives from the wilful eclecticism of the underlying musical stylings. There is a wisftulness to the vocal too, often treated with what sounds like a small room echo that adds a kind of dreamy intimacy to the recording. This is not stadium rock. But there are occasional big guitars. There are also steel guitars, organs and reverbed pianos. But underneath the simplicity and directness of the arrangements, there is an awful lot going on.

But it’s not downbeat. There are a couple of real toe-tappers too. Friday Night is sublimely jaunty but its Polyphonic Spree upbeat pop schtick does not detract from the overall feeling that you’re experiencing a peep through the window of a sensitive soul. Styles may vary from song to song but overall, you are left with a strong impression that you have spent some quality time really getting to know someone. Melancholic but not sad, self-deprecating without being self-indulgent. Not a good record, a great record and one you can listen to again and again and still uncover new things.

Watching A Garden Die is released by Wiretap Records on June 28th and can be pre-ordered here