Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador)
4/5
By: Matt Cole
I was primed to really dislike Smoke Ring For My Halo, the fourth album in four years from Kurt Vile, purely because the accompanying press release featured the following stream of utter bollocks;
“Reference points are rendered pointless by the singularity of his sound. Kurt Vile might belong to a long lineage of classic American songwriters, but he’s the only one who’s alive and in his prime today.”
I’d love to see the draft where the author also claimed Mr Vile formulated the cure for Hepatitis C and successfully discovered the Higgs Boson by completing a lap of the Large Hydron Collider at light speed on foot. But bullshit aside, Smoke Ring For My Halo actually is really rather ace; a series of rewardingly weighty, magic-hour soundtracks reminiscent of early Spiritualized with an Americana twist.
The entire album boasts an air of supreme confidence while appearing to be crafted by a man who’s making it up as he goes along, which combined provides a real propulsive charm. There’s an intimacy to the production that gives the illusion of actually being in the room as the tracks are being laid down and a lazy, incessant groove that gets the head nodding for the duration.
At first listen, Vile could be dismissed as just another singer songwriter with a knack for strumming and plucking. Give Smoke Ring… some time and you’ll find genuine inventiveness reveals itself – ‘Jesus Fever’ for example boasts some quirky key changes that pleasingly knock the cheery tune off its axis, and there’s a satisfying use of reverb and keyboard washes that add to the dream like haze of the album as a whole.
Vile does have a tendency to let the eccentricities of his vocal delivery wander into stylistic affectation territory from time to time. However the harmonic mangling can be forgiven when he dishes up such meaty psych-rock workouts as ‘Ghost Town’, which descends into an absorbing swamp of spiralling piano, looping fuzz guitar and womping synths of which J Spaceman would be mighty proud.
According to Captain Hyperbole from the press release, Smoke Ring For My Halo is “…a record that is perfect for any given day during whatever season, to satisfy all moods in every possible scenario, be that first thing in the morning or last thing at night; today, tomorrow or five years from now.” That may be pushing things ever so slightly, but with summer wending its way, Kurt Vile’s newest will make a cracking accompaniment to beach parties that kick off the moment the sun drops into the ocean.
Kurt Vile - Jesus Fever by hip2besquare
Artists in this article: Kurt Vile
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