Yep Roc Records
2005
If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry
About This Album
On Marah's fifth album, If You Didn't Laugh You'd Cry, the group casts aside the big and glossy productions of the last couple records and adopts a more intimate and loose feel. The album was recorded pretty much live in the studio and the sound is stripped down and very immediate. Stripped down but still rife with horns, strings, glockenspiels, percussion and handclaps and still filled with the kind of surprises (like the glittery disco beats on "The Hustle" or the Beach Boys-influenced vocal harmonies that begin "The Demon of White Sadness," to name but a couple) that have always helped separate the band from their over-earnest alt-country/Americana competition. Another thing that has always separated them has been David Bielanko's lyrics and vocals, and they are better than ever here. His loopy and wild-eyed vocals deliver his street poet lines with intense beauty throughout. He even restrains himself -- for a change -- on some of the ballads, especially "City of Dreams," on which he sounds almost angelic. The songs are among the band's best and most varied, whether they're rampaging rockers ("Fat Boy" or "Poor People"), wild lyrical flights of fancy ("The Closer"), emotional tours de force ("So What if We're Outta Tune [With the Rest of the World]"), heartbreaking character sketches ("The Dishwasher's Dream") or confessions ("The Apartment").
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 11)

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