2011 is proving to me a strong year in music with only four months passed, and Kurt Vile’s latest album is everything but a let down. It’s addicting.
The album, titled Smoke Ring For My Halo, is the solo artist’s fourth thus far.
He, and others I’m sure, compare listening to the album as follows, “when u wake from a long and glorious slumber, then u realize u don’t have to go to work, then u fall back into long and glorious slumber…” Sounds pretty perfect, right?
I can’t say I haven’t fed into this Kurt craze. Since I got my hands on Smoke Ring For My Halo I’ve been skipping along, in the snow, to school each day listening to favorites Baby’s Arms and Jesus Fever. I’m hooked.
While Kurt’s been compared to artists like Bob Seger or Tom Petty, there’s something about this latest album, pulled from a classic American guitar sound, which makes it solely Kurt Vile. It is hazy, drawn out, and diary-like. The lyrics pull out a personal side of the musician, they are both simple and complex, exposing little bits of information to his audience. While it could get complicated, nothing else would fit more properly. He wants us to read into it, and I, for one, caved. I don’t see this album getting old any time soon.
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