When Eddie Berman was writing Broken English, his new album of campfire-worthy, cosmic folk rock, he had been thinking a lot about the precarious state of American society—about our tumultuous relationship to work, family, technology, and spirituality in an era of isolation. That was before Covid-19 hit.
“It’s become a bit of a cliché about the pandemic,” he says. “It’s not like it’s causing all these brand-new issues as much as it’s bringing things that have existed for a long time to light.”
Armed with a fresh batch of songs, which were actually written mostly on the banjo but performed on guitar, Berman had been planning to record Broken English like he had his previous three LPs (2014’s Polyhymnia, 2017’s Before the Bridge, and 2019’s Frontiers—all streaming hits, steamrolling millions of plays): at the Los Angeles studio of Pierre de Reeder (Mavis Staples, M. Ward), in the company of some trusted musical collaborators. But then all that went out the window, and he had to change his approach—so he learned how to make the album remotely.
When the bones of the songs were ready, he sent them to his bandmates: multi-instrumentalist Gabe Feenberg and drummer Max MacVeety, who recorded from their own respective studios. The tracks were then sent to their long-time collaborator, De Reedeer, who mixed and shaped them. Despite the initial difficulty of adapting to a new approach, Berman grew to value the remote style, which afforded everyone involved a bit more time to focus on their individual contributions. However, Berman noted, “since Gabe and I both had very loud toddlers in our homes we only had a few takes of quiet for each track. That pressure and restriction strangely give these songs a live feel that’s similar to our previous recordings.”
Berman cites the writer and philosopher Annie Dillard as a source of inspiration on Broken English, her patient and deliberate thoughts on nature helping him to focus on the day-to-day—on not getting bogged down with the mess of the world that we can’t control. He cites the famous Dillard quote: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives,” from 1989’s The Writing Life.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for the album’s title track. Backed by instrumentation that brings to mind the folksier studio recordings of the Grateful Dead, the acoustic-driven song finds the band layering in lush instrumentation that is vaguely psychedelic while managing to be lyrically reflective. Berman’s vocals are delicate but commanding as he shares his vulnerabilities while still alluding to a deeper wisdom about this life we live. The slow, thumping groove and ethereal harmonies give the song an out of body moodiness that resonates especially well in these strange times.
Eddie Berman describes the inspiration and process behind the song:
“When I wrote “Broken English,” I was thinking about how especially isolated, rootless, and untethered people had become, and that was back in 2019, a good six months before anyone had heard the term Covid. The past year and a half have put those feelings in hyperdrive. I think the song’s also about distraction and self-obsession and the seeming commodification of absolutely everything. I never write songs like this as a condemnation of anyone; I can see these traits so clearly in myself. This song, and the whole album, is about me trying to square the circle of living a life somewhat connected to the world, to other people, and myself in such strange, atomized times.”
WATCH:
Photo credit: Joanna Berman
