Music Review // Jamie Bernstein "Zeus"

The story of "Zeus", as told by Jamie Bernstein, can be thought of in two different ways.  On one hand, this is an album about love songs.  But on the other hand, you can hear the influence in here of this being an album about a boat, as the song "I Got A Boat" reveals that the title of this whole album is the boat: "I got a boat called Zeus".  But, ultimately, hearing both the love songs directed toward women and the songs about the boat they are both really love songs at the end of the day, just in different forms.

While the music takes shape through different forms of acoustics, there is still a storytelling type quality to these songs overall.  "Cheap Rose" is a playful song about how this woman has class and though it will mention her underwear it will skip a beat and make you think it will say something like "She has a nice ass" because it rhymes, but such a line can never be heard.  It's that tongue in cheek quality which can also be found in "I'm Still Pouring", which is both about a bartender and pouring your heart out.

Hearing "Feel The Changes" can be less of a love song with more serious acoustics and the line "There ain't no good chain gang".  There is also a series of lines about what you must do, such as "If you want to be free you've got to be forgiven" and I feel like those can be used as life lessons.  "My Hillbilly Ways" is about exactly what you think it is about, while "Lake Ponchartrain Waltz" has that happier, bouncy feel to the chords.

What I like most about "Zeus" is that it has that love in all of its songs, sure, but it isn't just about one thing.  You cannot describe this album as being "folk" or "country" or some combination of the two, but it does have layers to it.  The idea of drinking and being on a boat reminds me of Jimmy Buffett, but in other ways this album very much reminds me of someone else.  At times you can pinpoint this to a certain but overall it just forms its own sound and that's what makes it so special.