What would Jonathan Lethem's band sound like?

In Jonathan Lethem's 2007 novel, "You Don't Love Me Yet," a man's private phone conversations are used by the woman on the other end of the line as lyrics for her band. Although he is older, odder and obviously a misfit, he is soon drawn in and becomes an integral part of the band.

That's not going to happen to Lethem, who makes it clear that he's no musician in today's New York Sun. But he did write the lyrics for I'm Not Jim, a band led by Walter Salas-Humara (the Silos). I'm Not Jim's debut release "You Are All My People" is out now on the respected independent label Bloodshot Records. (via)

Four of the album's tracks can be heard on the band's MySpace page, a decent-sized sampler of the musical side of things. But be sure to listen to the words.  "There's something on [the album's] mind," Lethem tells the N.Y. Sun, "something to do with cars that won't start and women who run away in airplanes."

On the album, Salas-Humara does several narrated segments — not on their MySpace page — which Lethem will perform at the two scheduled New York shows.

So far, there are no plans for the band, with or without the author, to play in Los Angeles. But they appear together, talking about I'm Not Jim, in a video that anyone can see after the jump.

— Carolyn Kellogg