David Bazan Lays It All on the Table

David Bazan's Curse Your Branches

I’m a tad behind the curve, here, music-wise. I’ve been waiting on my iPod to be repaired for about a month, so I haven’t really been keeping up with what’s coming out in music, due to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to actually listen to it other than at home. And since I’m usually on the go, putting time aside to sit and listen to a record hasn’t been in the cards. But, I noticed that David Bazan put out an album earlier this September and I had been meaning to wedge it into my eardrums for quite some time, now.

Declining the glorious opportunity to record under the moniker of a large Mexican feline (Pedro the Lion), which was mostly Bazan anyhow, he’s put forth a superb effort, Curse Your Branches. Bazan has recently forayed into a life of, what seems to be, full agnosticism, by ultimately having a falling out with God. With Pedro the Lion, Mr. Bazan always showed a doubting in his faith, but now he is clearly heeding his own questions. The opening track, “Hard to Be,” finds Bazan questioning, “Wait just a minute /  You expect me to believe / That all this misbehaving / Came from one enchanted tree?” And, on the title track, “Curse Your Branches,” he shows reserved anger,  declaring, “All fallen leaves should curse their branches / for not letting them decide where they should fall / and not letting them refuse to fall at all.” It’s clear that the lyrics are a lot bleaker, yet it allows room for more realism in the lyrics to re-affirm a sense of humanity, which strangely gives the album a more inspiring twist. Also, throughout the album, he presents a more intimate portrait of his battle with alcoholism. In “Bless This Mess” he puts forth much alcohol-related imagery, but the most striking it’s the striking lyrics, “By my baby’s yellow bed / I kissed her forehead and rubbed her little tummy / Wondering if she’d soon despise the smell / Of the booze on my breath like her mom,” that show a man hoping for a way out.

The production is much smoother and clearer than previous efforts, with Bazan pronouncing each syllable with affirmation. The music also seems a lot more realized with Bazan merging two of his previous projects into one with the raw, roots-rock from Pedro the Lion and the more synth-heavy Headphones. The arrangements are simple and straight-forward, with mostly simple acoustic guitars and the occasional thick keyboard or piano part filling the backdrop with gloom. But, as always, it’s Bazan’s smooth, resonant vocals being put forth as the focus of the songs.

Whether you do or don’t agree with Bazan’s religious departure and frankness in his lyrics, there will always be something admirable in a man that has the courage to lay his bare soul out on the table. I’ve already listened to this album five or six times through, as I’ve done with his other projects, and this is clearly the definitive work of his career, thus far.

David Bazan’s Curse Your Branches was released on September 1, 2009 on the Barsuk record label.

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