Search - Geoff Berner :: Whiskey Rabbi

You've All Been Following A False Messiah!

Dan Wright | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada | 08/13/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...so begins the title track to Geoff Berner's latest album. Fans of the Vancouver-based accordionist will be willing to concede the point. Others may be nonplussed, wondering who this punk is. "Punk" is an important word for understanding Geoff's work, as he definitely plays punk music; this album sees him joining up with Wayne Adams (percussion) & Diona Davies (violin) in the kind of klezmer that klezmer purists will be terrified of. The trio have a raw, primal sound that makes you think that you're listening to tracks like "Song Written in a Romanian Hospital" in a Warsaw dive bar.At the same time, Geoff can display surprising sensitivity and lyrical ability with such songs as "Unlistenable Song" and "Volcano God." While these songs also face the world head-on, they do so through dialogue, as opposed to the confrontational nature of songs such as "The Traveller's Curse."His songs are challenging, they are heartfelt, they are possessed of a certain black humour (paricularly "The True Enemy"), and they are worth listening to. Check him out!"