Berry - Everything, Compromised (2018) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

After completing their 2010 LP, Blue Sky, Raging Sun (Joyful Noise Recordings), the members of Berry dispersed from Chicago, spreading across the country from Arizona to New York City. Meeting weekly by phone and yearly in person for a sort of shared “musical vacation,” Berry has never stopped pursuing the unique musical vision that has bound them together for more than fifteen years.

Berry’s latest LP, Everything, Compromised, emerged from one of these vacations three years ago, when they gathered in a dusty pole barn out in the Kansas countryside. Live tracks were written and recorded in just four days, but the album really only began to take shape when Lemon handed over production reins to Paul Klimson, who has worked modestly alongside John Legend, Erykah Badu, and Kirk Douglas of The Roots. The result is an eclectic mix of carefully structured songs, where pop melodies soar over shifting time signatures, dissonant harmonies, and a heavier-than-usual dose of diminished-seventh chords. Lemon’s off kilter lyrics find meaning as they juxtapose such disparate characters as literary heros like Henry David Thoreau with pop culture villains like Martin Shkreli.

Tracklist:
1. Perpetual Motion (04:38)
2. Civil Disobedience (05:58)
3. The Squirrel And The Pearl (03:25)
4. Delayed Delight (04:23)
5. Whoever And Ever, Amen (03:23)
6. Failure To Thrive (07:02)
7. Fragments (05:18)
8. Mushroom Cloud Horizon (04:39)
9. Hank's Truck (04:41)
10. Only Time (Bonus Track) (03:44)
11. Amazing Grace (Bonus Track) (03:18)