David Berman was one of the most celebrated storytellers in indie rock, depicting lives of quiet desperation and fractured hope. With his rotating cast of collaborators in Silver Jews (including at times his wife, Cassie, and Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich), and resurgent in Purple Mountains before his death in 2019, he crafted a variety of scruffy delivery systems for his wry, indelible lyrics. "Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed" is upbeat R.E.M.-style jangle pop smeared in soot, while the driving "Punks in the Beerlight" gains steam through a call-and-response refrain. The gently swaying, sardonic country ballad "Random Rules" shows that Berman had no trouble making disappointment beautiful.