The Silver Jews' 1996 recording, The Natural Bridge continues the band's shift from their early, sprawling racket into a smooth foil for David Berman's laid-back vocals and evocative lyrics. when sessions with original Jews Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich and with members of the Scud Mountain Boys didn't work out the way Berman hoped, they were scrapped; the final version of the Natural Bridge was recorded in the summer of 1996 at Hartford, CT's studio .45, which was originally a gun factory.