A Songwriter Sings a Story

It’s no small feat to put out a good album. Plenty of musicians go entire careers without ever doing so. It’s another thing to put out a great album, and veteran singer-songwriter David Berkeley went even one step further. He put out a great album that goes along with an interwoven novella featuring ten chapters each focusing on a different character (one for each song), and is it fantastic.

Berkeley’s new album, Cardboard Boat, brings together just about every instrument and influence one can think of. Some songs may feature whole string sections or an organ, while for another song, the listener will be treated to a country tinged banjo tune instead. For the project, Berkeley also brought on the starlight-voiced Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek as backup vocalist on the songs entwined with stories featuring female lead characters; this adds a cool dynamic contrast to Berkeley’s beautiful baritone.

Throughout the violins, banjos and brass (oh my), Berkeley’s masterful vocals, expertly penned lyrics and steady acoustic guitar hold everything together. It would be easy to lose command of such a concept, considering all the genres and instrumentation that Berkeley uses on his record, but that never happens. Cardboard Boat is always cohesive and never disjointed.

Like in the companion stories, Cardboard Boat features lyrics about characters that find themselves a little off-kilter with the rest of the world around them. This doesn’t make for a sad record. Instead Berkeley finds a hopeful tune. His characters find solace in the world around them, or in each other with the help of Watkins’ backing vocals. Berkeley, a Harvard literature graduate, is able to paint an intricate and gorgeous story throughout the record with earnest lyrics that really seem to resonate through the heart.

As hard as it is to pick a favorite song on a record like this, the opening track “Setting Sail” does a great job setting the stage for the rest of the album. His lyrics paint the first humble steps of a journey searching for meaning. “My heart is calm tonight, while the moon is burning bright,” Berkeley croons. The piano chords dance along to stringed melodies, and the whole tune sets the listener up with well deserved anticipation for the rest of the album.

Berkeley claims that this is his best album, and he just might be right.