KURT VILE

(watch my moves)

VERVE RECORDS / VIRGIN MUSIC AUSTRALIA

Kurt Vile, the one man slacker psych jam band from Philly is back with a new collection of songs that wander, hypnotise, amuse and sometimes meander on album number nine. 

Vile has long figured out his optimal recipe and here he doesn’t stray from it, if anything he digs deeper into cyclical patterns of repetition and gently strummed psychedelic trances with his band The Violators and guests such as Cate Le Bon and Chastity Belt. 

The observational nature of his lyrics, filtered through a lazy eye and what sound like word association games still retains its lackadaisical charm. Thoughts roll around my cranium” he sings on ‘Like Exploding Stones’, the first moment where things really gel and the music becomes weightier. 

Beneath the psych drift and woozy shimmer there’s still a stoner country feel to what Vile does, like Neil Young and Pavement jamming in a daydream. When he nails that vibe with a natural rhythmic flow, interesting guitar riffs and cosmic synths it works supremely well but across an hour and a quarter there’s too much of an endless amble without suitable resolve or astute self-editing. It amounts to an album that sounds good but is somewhat amorphous and tricky to lock onto and connect with. 

CHRIS FAMILTON