Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard

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4...according to our Business Lady on Thu 16 Apr, 2009.

Jeffrey Lewis has gone and got himself a crew together! ''Em are I' sees Mr Lewis comfortablly tackling the usual themes of love, loss, travel and tragi-comedy but this times he's got a bunch of pals to help out under the guise of The Junkyard. Those of you familiar with Jeffrey Lewis's material will appreciate the the variety provided within ''Em are I' thanks to additional help of Emily Lacy, Herman Dune and cheeky solo from miserable super shredder J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr but I'm not entirely sure of the merit of the extended line-up myself. Saying that I'm still pretty much into this record and there are plenty of enjoyable tracks to get involved with, favourites being 'Roll Bus Roll', 'If life exists?' and 'Whistle past the graveyard'. Full group efforts such as 'Slogans' and 'The upside-down cross' don't work as well for me mainly because they come of sounding like psudo indie rock as opposed to the country tinged classics I've grown to love. We all know that Jeffrey Lewis is an emerging talent of great charm and skill so I won't go on and on but I will say that I prefer it when he plays his usual brand of confession country rock tracks. Saying that I wouldn't want to begrudge him the opportunity to drink and few ales and rock out with his friends, the guy's out on the road so much that he will most certainly enjoy the company.

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· With his recent album of anarcho-punk covers ‘12 Crass Songs’ still making
waves (4 stars in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Mojo, Uncut and many
others), Jeffrey Lewis has somehow managed to find the time to record his best
album yet.
· Part folkie, part indie-rocker, part comic book artist, with comic / tragic lyrics
straight from the heart, and guitar style ranging from finger picked roots to outer
space swoops, Jeffrey Lewis has worked on and off in between tours to spin an 11
song production that seems to reflect a love of the last 40 years of
popular music, all filtered through Jeff’s unmistakable idiosyncratic
muse.
· Mostly tracked on classic analogue tape at Brooklyn’s Emandee Studios with
engineer and co-producer Mark Ospovat, Jeff’s usual band of drummer Dave
Beauchamp and bassist / brother Jack Lewis are joined at various times by
friends and acquaintances including French indie-heroes Herman Dune and
American banjo troubadour Emily Lacy, and the album even features a lead guitar
cameo from Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis.
· With 2009 barely out of the gate, ‘Em Are I’ is making an early bid for album of
the year. Ignore the growing cult of Jeffrey Lewis at your peril; there is simply
nobody else out there who occupies the aesthetic world he has created. As recently
stated in Plan B, “he’s not just good – he’s necessary!”.
· This new album features another beautiful sleeve package designed and
illustrated by Jeffrey himself.

Slogans * Roll Bus Roll * If Life Exists? * Broken Broken
Broken Heart * Whistle Past The Graveyard * To Be
Objectified * The Upside-Down Cross * Bugs & Flowers *
Good Old Pig, Gone To Avalon * It’s Not Impossible *
Mini-Theme: Moocher From The Future