Lost Causes

Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird have come on a long way from their 2005 debut album The Broken Tongue [reviewed in #70]. Then they were extremely rough, and not that ready. On their third album, Lost Causes, Kahn demonstrates a much greater mastery of his milieu. A Detroit native based in Berlin, Kahn theatrically reworks klezmer in Yiddish, German and English, creating a weary, satirical music that has a raw rock flavour while keeping klezmer as its basis. He sings (adequately) and plays accordion (competently), leading a large ensemble that brings in all kinds of musical flavours – New Orleans trumpet flourishes, large female choruses and melancholy clarinet. Reminiscent of Brecht/Weill theatre, too much of Lost Causes feels like it was conceived for a theatrical production, so dramatic and baroque is it. The strident tempo and big singalong choruses quickly make for hard home listening.

‘Vi Azoy?’ and ‘A Miller's Tale’ are quiet, meditative songs and work all the better for that. Kahn and The Painted Bird are surely a lot of fun in concert. But listening to an entire album is something of a task.