Vancouver-based accordion aficionado Geoff Berner put the squeezebox down to write a novel recently, but fans of his music will be pleased to know that he's set to follow up 2011's Victory Party with a new record.
Berner has made his latest musical mission clear, naming the forthcoming full-length We Are Going to Bremen to Be Musicians. It will arrive on October 16 in Canada via Rae Spoon's Coax Records, with Oriente Musik handling the release internationally.
The new material features the poetic, political songwriting style and klezmer-punk sound that Berner has come to be known for, and draws inspiration from his involvement with the Klezmer Bund movement. The group of radical Jewish artists reject orthodox tradition in favour of creating art connects deeply with Jewish roots and identity, but in a way that's fun and accessible for everybody.
In a statement, Berner described the new record as one that is "meant to be powerful cheering-up medicine that you don't have to turn your brain off for," elaborating to dub it "a compendium of strategies against despair."
That positive attitude seems evident on songs like "I Don't Feel So Mad at God When I See You in Your Summer Dress," "When DD Gets Her Donkey Everything Will Be Alright" and "Dance and Celebrate."
The latter starts off sounding like a sing-songy children's storybook, but blossoms into an eccentric rhythm-switching political statement with some strong words for our Canadian prime minister. You can scroll past the album's tracklisting to give it a listen below.
We Are Going to Bremen to Be Musicians:
1. Swing A Chicken 3 Times Over Your Head
2. Dance And Celebrate
3. When DD Gets Her Donkey Everything Will Be Alright
4. Condos
5. Es Brent
6. Ikh Krakh Tomid Arayn In Der Zelber Mashin
7. Thank You, No Thank You
8. When Chanukah Comes To Town
9. I Don't Feel So Mad At God When I See You In Your Summer Dress
10. We Are On Our Way To Bremen
11. Slouching Towards Bremen
Berner has made his latest musical mission clear, naming the forthcoming full-length We Are Going to Bremen to Be Musicians. It will arrive on October 16 in Canada via Rae Spoon's Coax Records, with Oriente Musik handling the release internationally.
The new material features the poetic, political songwriting style and klezmer-punk sound that Berner has come to be known for, and draws inspiration from his involvement with the Klezmer Bund movement. The group of radical Jewish artists reject orthodox tradition in favour of creating art connects deeply with Jewish roots and identity, but in a way that's fun and accessible for everybody.
In a statement, Berner described the new record as one that is "meant to be powerful cheering-up medicine that you don't have to turn your brain off for," elaborating to dub it "a compendium of strategies against despair."
That positive attitude seems evident on songs like "I Don't Feel So Mad at God When I See You in Your Summer Dress," "When DD Gets Her Donkey Everything Will Be Alright" and "Dance and Celebrate."
The latter starts off sounding like a sing-songy children's storybook, but blossoms into an eccentric rhythm-switching political statement with some strong words for our Canadian prime minister. You can scroll past the album's tracklisting to give it a listen below.
We Are Going to Bremen to Be Musicians:
1. Swing A Chicken 3 Times Over Your Head
2. Dance And Celebrate
3. When DD Gets Her Donkey Everything Will Be Alright
4. Condos
5. Es Brent
6. Ikh Krakh Tomid Arayn In Der Zelber Mashin
7. Thank You, No Thank You
8. When Chanukah Comes To Town
9. I Don't Feel So Mad At God When I See You In Your Summer Dress
10. We Are On Our Way To Bremen
11. Slouching Towards Bremen
