Jared Bartman
Misery Makes Strange Bedfellows
by Samantha Weinraub
Listening to Jared Bartman is like a tropical lullaby, being sung to sleep on a hammock between two palm trees. Misery Makes Strange Bedfellows mixes modern folksiness with old-timey, romantic influences. Opening notes of the album’s shortest and sweetest track, ‘The Cool of Your Temple’, are reminiscent of a Fleet Foxes bud that blooms into hymnal rose. It could be the similarity in title, but to me the song draws inspiration from 1950’s “In the Still of the Night.” Fred Parris, vocal leader of Fred Parris and The Satins wrote “In the song in 1955 in the basement of a local church. I am not positive where Jared Bartman conceived “The Cool of Your Temple” but, it sounds of a local gospel-filled church basement, or, well, a temple.
“Silver Screen” could make any listener swoon, images of a du-wop, drive-in date comes to mind. “In Belize” is a tropical transport, rhythmic in all the right places, and sounds of salsa and exotic women. “Jackals” and “Granada” express a darker side in comparison to the album’s generally soft and approachable tunes. “It Leaves You,” is an exemplary final track sporting gentle melodies and soul-warming lyrics. “You’ve Been Drinking Again,” an upbeat, catchy, and easy to remember lyrical tune, whisks the listener away to an exotic locale, sunburned, and happy. Accusatory in the most playful and loving way possible, it makes the listener wonder, who is this you referenced in many of Bartman’s songs, and is there room for another?
Rating: Bad-Ass
