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PROFILE: DAN BERN |
NERVY TROUBADOURDan Bern kicked off his 1997 self-titled Sony debut by revealing himself as the Messiah, then went on to ponder the consequences if Marilyn Monroe had married Henry rather than Arthur Miller. His Ani DiFranco–produced follow-up, Fifty Eggs, opened with the declaration "I got big balls, big old balls" and later solved an evolutionary mystery in "No Missing Link," a song he delivered live with a rousing singalong of "Aliens came and fucked the monkey."If these provocations, and Bern’s other unholy imaginings about God and the celebrity firmament, succeeded in winning the attention of audiences and critics, they also obscured what an insightful and emotionally potent songwriter the young American troubadour could be. That ought to change with the release of New American Language (Messenger), a brilliant set in which Bern shows little need to stomp his boots on the coffeehouse table. "I was much less concerned with me and much more with the lens I was looking through," says Bern. "It’s a lot more comfortable place to come from—it’s just about the songs." Not that Bern has become the proverbial sensitive singer-songwriter. While his early records were essentially solo affairs, New American Language showcases a raucous band that now joins him on the road. And Bern proves himself as fearless and subversively funny as ever. In "God Said No," perhaps his best song to date, the Deity dismisses Bern’s requests to go back in time and save Kurt Cobain and Jesus and take down Hitler ("If you really found him," God says of Cobain, "you would only ask him if he could help you get a deal"). "I mean otherwise, why bother writing?" Bern says of his ability to pierce subjects that would scare off most songwriters. "It’s a place where you don’t have to be squeamish. There’s nobody telling you, ‘That’s inappropriate.’ If you listen to what’s inside and let that come out, that seems like the thing to trust." --Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |
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