Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
Right from the off you can tell this album is going to be shrouded in mystery as Vile projects his voice with an obvious insecurity - it sounds like the kind of music that be the soundtrack to the low after a 12 hour booze. It's very slurred and if this album was a photograph it would be constantly pulling in and out of focus. After tender track #1 - Baby's Arms - it's almost as if a new page is being turned over and the record breathes new life, an instantly upbeat quality surround the rest of the album. This musical barrier that Vile creates is key to the album, making the listener work hard to decipher the vocals and their mood and settle down into the deep ambience of the record.
On another note, the musicality here is AMAZING. It's a guitar-based record where every pluck is as poignant and as intricate as the last. Stand out songs for tantalising strumming are Puppet To The Man and Society Is My Friend.
****
This was quite something. I wasn't really expecting this album to be so abstract. A bizarre voice on the guy - it's definitely Edward Sharpe meets Ben Howard. The outcome is quite remarkable and I'm going to have to listen to this a few more times. On that first initial listen earlier on I wasn't keen on the lack of depth. With good wholesome acoustic artists like Benjamin Frances Leftwich and Bon Iver (1st album), the addition of a band would ruin the beautiful vocals. However with works from Ben Howard, Edward Sharpe, James Vincent McMorrow, Bon Iver (2nd album) introducing band arrangements, the sound is more embodied and full. With a band to supplement the music on this album, perhaps it would be a more appealing listen - at least then the band could offer a certain distraction from the vocals, which at times are tricky to embrace. But maybe that simplicity is the USP. I can tell you for certain that the guitar is excellent. Song to check out is Where Do My Bluebird Fly.
**
This album has been out for ages but I've recently found a love for it. From start to finish the record is a wash of fabulous guitar work and deep, dark, deadly indie vocals. A thoroughly enjoyable album to stick on whilst driving, perhaps because it derives such potent influence from legendary rock ancestry - Jimi Hendrix showing through a lot. Some Muse in there too.
Very catchy but not many surprises. You know what you're going to get from this album and that gets a little boring when you move past track 10. A 15 track LP probably over-does it. They could have left some of these songs out as B-sides and released the most kick-ass 10-track and we'd all have been happy. Sorry to say I got fed up and turned the radio on and let the last 5 songs pass me by.
****
