Transcending the Words

The boom days of David + David are a dozen years behind him, but lyricist David Baerwald is still aiming his talents at the dark side of the Southern California lifestyle.

Unlike previous efforts, which had critics comparing his gritty, sardonic songwriting to works of the Eagles and Randy Newman, however, Baerwald is now painting his grim musical portraits largely without words.

As composer of the soundtrack to the film “Hurlyburly,” which stars Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey, Baerwald delves into jazz, lilting choir vocals and “ ‘70s style porn music” to weave the backdrop to a film examining decadence and despair in the Hollywood Hills.

“It was relief to not write words, really,” said Baerwald, 38. “When you’re just dealing with the texture of music, it feels more honest in ways. You don’t have to say anything, you don’t have to tell something.”

For a time, Baerwald doubted his ability to say something to his audience. After David + David imploded after their lone album in 1986, Baerwald said he felt like a character in one of his own songs, bouncing through the sordid side of Hollywood party life and losing his own identity.

He bounced back with two critically acclaimed solo albums, “Bedtime Stories” in 1990 and “Triage” in 1993, and is now working on an album with his new band, the Palindrome Floating Band, which he describes as a combination of “hillbilly music and German cabaret and 1970s Oakland R&B.;”

And what about a reunion with the “other” David--former collaborator David Ricketts?

“We may do something together,” Baerwald said. “We knew [David + David] was a way station. “We knew it wasn’t going to last. Neither of us was really cut out for what greeted us.”