A Turn In The Dream-Songs

Description

Although its been two years since the last official Jeffrey Lewis album, 2009s Em Are I, Jeffrey Lewis had a busy 2010, a year which included two side-project / collaboration albums (The Bundles, which was Jeffrey Lewis with Kimya [Moldy Peaches] Dawson, and Come On Board, which was Jeffrey Lewis with Peter [Holy Modal Rounders / Fugs] Stampfel), a tour schedule that took in some far-flung areas like Finland / Russia / Australia / New Zealand and others, festival appearances at Primavera, Latitude, Golden Plains and more, and even ten illustrated / sung historical pieces commissioned and filmed for the History Channel (some of which featured Jeffrey performing with Ernie Brooks of The Modern Lovers, and led to Jeffreys award-winning piece on Sitting Bull)

Jeffrey Lewis returns in 2011 with A Turn In The Dream-Songs, his sixth album for Rough Trade Records. Leaving behind most of the garage-rock bursts that peppered previous albums, A Turn In The Dream-Songs is perhaps a sweeter record than any Jeffrey has released before, a warmth that is enhanced by the fact that the current songs were recorded and mixed entirely on two-inch analogue tape at Englands Analogue Catalogue all vintage studio.

Jeffreys band on this record is a five-piece, with mandolin by Franic (Wave Pictures) Rozycki and drums / bass / cello from Johnny Flynns backing band The Sussex Wit (which includes Jeffreys long-time drummer David Beauchamp). Most of the songs were recorded live-in-studio at Analogue Catalogues cozy HQ in the misty hills outside of Manchester, UK, often with all five musicians captured on tape performing together in one room, although some wonderful additional assists were also provided by members of Dr. Dog, The Vaselines, Au Revoir Simone, Mistys Big Adventure and Schwervon!, all of whom have been Jeffrey Lewis fans / touring partners in the past couple of years.

The classy acoustic band, sounding live and loose but sonically dynamite, the vintage analogue recording / mixing process, the relentlessly high quality of the songwriting whether contemplative or freewheeling, and of course another elaborate and unique comic book packaging / artwork design by Jeffrey, all combine to make A Turn In The Dream-Songs the most solid and enjoyable album of Jeffreys now decade-long strange career.

Hands down my favorite contemporary songwriter Ben Gibbard (Death
Cab For Cutie)

Weird? Very but also downright inspiring (****) Rolling
Stone

the best lyricist working in the US today Jarvis Cocker (Pulp)

The Big Apples best-kept secret Genius-gone-ignored mind-blowing NME

Bizarre but brilliant Uncut