ARTIST:
KURT VILE


ALBUM:
SMOKE RING FOR MY HALO


KEY TRACKS:
BABY'S ARMS
PUPPET TO THE MAN
SOCIETY IS MY FRIEND
RUNNER UPS
JESUS FEVER


"best friend's long gone, but I got runner ups"
Smoke Ring for My Halo has been a longtime vice of mine ever since hearing the opening track Baby's Arms.  It's a vice in that I've listened to it almost too much.  However, there is something about Kurt Vile's slurry vocals and intricate fretwork that have sucked me in and (more importantly) kept me coming back for more.  


A Pennsylvania native, and former member (and founder) of ambient rock back The War on Drugs, there is a certain nostalgia to Kurt Vile's arrangements.  He sometimes suggests the Americana of Tom Petty and then at other times to the entrancing folk of Bob Dylan at times.  I recently had the pleasure of seeing Kurt Vile and his backing band The Violators at Bonnaroo this year and all through the set I certainly sensed this duality.  Vile's music often vacillates between hard rock and gentle folk, as mentioned, and as different as they sound, it's no less enjoyable.  However, after a few listens to Smoke Ring I would have to say, wholeheartedly, that this is much more of an acoustic album than Vile's previous releases. 


Baby's Arms, the album's opener, is such a beautiful yet simple love song.  Like Vile himself, it's shy yet brutally honest:

"I get sick of just about everyone, so I hide in my baby's arms

Shrink myself just like a Tom Thumb, and I hide in my baby's hands"

Kurt seems a deeply private person both in his music and on stage.  Even in one of the interviews below he seems uncomfortable just even being filmed.  Seeing him live was also a reflection of this as he literally played hunched over his guitar, behind the massive curtain of his thick locks.  His music, especially in this track, is just as well veiled in the same mysterious ambiance.  It's this subtlety, his well hidden persona, that has so hooked me in as a listener and also why I've posted only live-version videos below.  You can never really know what's going on in these songs, or in the life of the artist which is so fascinating to me and so true for this partiular musician.  It always keeps you guessing, always keeps you entertained.  

Runner Ups and Peeping Tomboy are in a similar style to Baby's Arms and are just as entrancing and mysterious while other tracks like Puppet to the Man and Society is my Friend are a bit on the heavier side.  Again, this duality is present again, Americana versus folk, Petty versus Dylan.  But nonetheless it's interesting and refreshing.  Now that I've discovered the wonderful world of online radio, I've been digging deeper into Kurt Vile's discography and listening to the wonderful progression of this artist.  It seems that through the years Kurt Vile, has found a happy medium between his two distinct styles which is something only time, and well learned experience can produce.  


What's most memorable about Kurt Vile is that there is an intensity to his playing.  At Bonnaroo, the only time he'd look up from his guitar when playing, was up to the sound pit to make adjustments.  He's not in this to be a rock star, he's here to make the music he wants to.  His tenacity on stage to make such perfect and meticulously played music was the highlight of my festival experience.  To see someone that dedicated to their craft is nothing less than inspiring: Smoke Ring for My Halo is Kurt Vile's true testament to that.  

LISTEN:  BABY'S ARMS  |  RUNNER UPS |  SOCIETY IS MY FRIEND  | PUPPET TO THE MAN  |  JESUS FEVER

NEXT WEEK:  LAURA MARLING  |  A CREATURE I DON'T KNOW