Damien Jurado & Gathered in Song

Item: I Break Chairs
Author: Ken Mueller

I Break Chairs

(2002)

Reviewed by Ken Mueller

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Label Sub PopThe Phantom TollboothMarch 2002

folk rock indie rock

Damien Jurado is back; this time with a full band, Gathered in Song, and the result is the rockiest outing yet for Seattle's urban folkster. The threesome that makes up Gathered in Song is to Jurado what Crazy Horse is to Neil Young, bringing out his inner punk rocker.

The album kicks off with the rockin' "Paperwings," and is followed by the even more raucous "Dancing," and its refrain of:

And it's who's got what, and what can I take,
I'll take what you got, just try to make a fast break

Eventually the disc slows down into more familiar Jurado territory with songs like "Inevitable" and the haunting "Air Show Disaster," (It's a rather nice day for an air show disaster...) This is Jurado at his morose best, as we know him from his previous work, especially 2000's wonderful Ghost of David. Other standout tunes include "Never Ending Tide," with its use of oceanic imagery to describe a relationship, and the more upbeat "Big Deal" and its exploration of fleeting fame, particularly within a fickle record industry:

There's someone always there to take your place
Once you were first in line, and now you're in the back
Received your card and thank you letters, p.s. please don't come back.

On "Castles" Jurado pens his version of Ecclesiastes and its theme of "vanity, vanity, all is vanity," and on "Like Titanic" he explores a destructive relationship of bored teens gone wild.

Throughout, it is easy to hear Jurado's fondness for folks like Springsteen, Phil Ochs, and Nick Drake, but he sets his own pace and carves out his own niche, while dipping into tales of damaged love, lost romance, and a general dis-ease with society in general. I Break Chairs is not as strong as the dark and haunting Ghost of David (2000), but is important in its own right, and the next logical step for this growing artist.

4 tocks