Album Review: Watching a Garden Die by Berwanger

Released last year, Berwanger's fourth album, Watching a Garden Die, stands out in its maturity. There is still rock you can move to, especially "Bad Vibrations". I like the riffs on "Friday Night".

Beyond that, there are deeper themes that I keep going back to because they require more thought.

That's not at the expense of the music; the instruments on "The Business of Living" are gorgeous. Still, an album that has a song, "When I Was Young" has some thoughts about not being young, and change and mortality.

So I think what I like best about the album as a whole is the way it ends.

Honestly, the album feels like it starts abruptly with "Long Way Down", as if there is no lead-in and you are just there, all at once. Then you are on that journey, and it gets melancholy. Maybe the thoughts that come with that are overwhelming. Maybe you with you could stop those thoughts, but worry about what else you would lose.

With all of that, it is ultimately encouraging. "I Keep Telling Myself" is sweetly reassuring, and the final admonishment is "Remain Untamed". Even in the midst of setbacks, there is learning and an enduring you.

I recently read an article about what Tom Petty might have written next if he had lived, and the loss of not getting that album contemplating the end of life. We may not have enough great albums about death, but we do have albums at various stages of life, and bands that think and grow. That is pretty wonderful too.

Band links:

https://www.facebook.com/Berwangermusic

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_QXf9nN6oSOoL351Jyv7ZQ

https://twitter.com/joshuaberwanger


Previously reviewed:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2015/09/concert-review-josh-berwanger-band.html

Interview with Josh Berwanger:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2020/02/interview-5-questions-with-josh.html