With his new record Wakin On A Pretty Daze (Matador), Kurt Vile continues his spellbinding nature. The follow-up to 2011’s Smoke Ring for My Halo, once again, finds legendary producer John Agnello assuming the reins, guiding Philly’s “constant hitmaker” on his latest journey.
The album begins with the epic nine-plus-minutes song, “Wakin on a Pretty Day,” in which Vile confesses his intentions – “Waking the dawn of day, I gotta think about what I want to say…it’s hard to explain my hurt in this daze.” Laced between an eerily comfortable marriage of familiar mercurial electric and steadily strumming acoustic guitars, Vile’s alluring, hazy comforts draw you in as the song raises you out of your slumber. As he lifts the sleep from your eyes, the prolific songwriter announces his intentions in the following track “KV Crimes” – amid a raunchy guitar riff and a steady percussive backdrop – “that’s fine I think I’m ready to claim what’s rightfully mine” – injecting short bursts of guitar as if to flex his muscle.
“Was All Talk” has an aquatic-running musical vibe with its “The Boys of Summer”-esque intro, establishing a customarily complex, yet comfortably moving feel, while coasting along as Vile confidently professes, “In the sea of storm, making music is easy. Watch me.” Spiraling guitars and snappy drums set the stage for “Girl Called Alex” as the mood darkens and intensifies. “I want to live all the time in my fantasy infinity; there, I’ll never be abandoned; there, I’ll have a handle against everything.”
“Never Run Away” is one of the songs that grabs you instantaneously in its addictive simplicity – an effortlessly clean acoustic strumming pattern matched with an equal to the task drumbeat and Vile’s drawn-out spoken/sung vocals that have long been compared to the legendary Lou Reed. It’s a casual groove that seems to tighten up with every additional listen. While “Pure Pain” continues an ongoing trend of establishing a musical identity riff/percussion/vocal, it has a surprising shift as if the guitar decides to uproot. As you hear Vile’s changes purposely dragging along the neck, a marching beat comes to the forefront, leading way to a short elegant solo before he backtracks into its previously assumed position, and then as if battling itself, shape shifts yet again.
“Shame Chamber” is yet another simple sounding song that is anything but that. A quick riff that is joined on the journey by an arrangement that becomes increasingly complex, adding layers as if Vile strolls through another story that despite its multiple facets and heavy lyrical content retains a lightness. In “Air Bud,” he ventures through a spacey, fuzz intro that lands on his steady, easy-going roots, and then the musical interludes are stretched out, forming a terrain that is vast but focused. He elaborates on the final song, which easily floats along on its acoustic-founded riff layered with elevating key work, “I might be adrift, but I’m still alert, concentrating my hurt into a goldtone.”
Vile is continuously refining his art while also diving into new exploratory depths. He is an artist that has proven to mature with every new endeavor, and Wakin On A Pretty Daze shines from the start, etching its way into your mind with each comforting note. – Michael Colavita