Bazan::Jurado @ Chop Suey

Chad and I went to see David Bazan and Damien Jurado, Seattle’s best known tragically cynical singer-songwriters, at Chop Suey last night.  Bazan is always a joy to hear but definitely has some type of OCD, stopping between songs to check his text message and speaking in a sort of struggling-to-get-out-his-words kind of way.

And Damien must have a certifiable social anxiety disorder, which makes him seem ever more sad in person.  He looks depressed, speaks depressed, sings depressed and plays depressed. The only time he stopped to talk he said, “I think I would have something to say if I had something to say. But I don’t.” Poor Damien.

Bazan continues to push back the release date of his new album. I’ve heard Fall ‘08, Winter ‘08, Spring ‘09 and now it is Summer ‘09.  A lot of the songs are addressing religious questions concerning the problem/origin of evil, doubt and what seems to be his honest response.

Lyrics (click below) from two songs that will be on the new album. Worth a read even if you don’t know who the heck this guys is.

“The stitches”
My body bangs and twitches, the tequila wets my tongue
My fingers find the stitches firmly back and forth they run
I need no other memory of the bits of me I left
When all this lethal drinking is to hopefully forget
About you

I might as well admit it, like I even have a choice
The crew have killed the captain, but they still can hear his voice
A shadow on the water, a whisper in the wind
On long walks with my daughter, who is lately full of questions
About you

When Job asked you the question, you responded: who are you
to challenge your creator? well if that one part is true,
It makes you sound defensive, like you have not thought it through
Enough to have an answer; like you might have bit off more than you could chew.

“When we fell”
With the threat of hell hanging over my head like a halo
I was made to believe in a couple of beautiful truths
That eventually had the effect of completely unraveling
The powerful curse put on me by you

If my mother cries when I tell her what I discovered
Then I hope she remembers she taught me to follow my heart
And if you bully her like you done me with fear of damnation
Then I hope she can see you
for what you are

When you set the table
When you chose the scale
Did you write a riddle that you knew they would fail
Did you make them tremble
So they would tell the tale
Did you push us when we fell

What am I afraid of?
Who did I betray?
In what medieval kingdom does justice work that way?
If you knew what would happen
And you made us just the same
Then you my Lord can take the blame.