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Kurt Vile: Wakin On A Pretty Daze

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Kurt Vile
Wakin On A Pretty Daze
Matador

 

You’d be hard pressed to find coverage of Kurt Vile that doesn’t at least casually mention comparisons to the forefathers of American roots rock like Tom Petty, Bob Seger or Bruce Springsteen. Part of this stems from simply being the most digestible means for making sense of lesser-known cultural produce with an easy comparison to things we know. In order to justly describe the inexplicable aura of Kurt Vile’s output, positioning him within his realm of influence seems like the safest bet.

The problem with many of the artists that jumped on board with the Springsteen revivalism that took alt rock by storm just prior to Bruce reuniting the E Street Band for 2007’s Magic, was they were slightly too dependent on essentialist notions of the artist widely known as ‘The Boss’ and not Springsteen himself.  Simply donning a red ball cap in the back pocket of your Levi’s, set to a back drop of blue-collared references, is about as red-blooded as the misappropriation of a scathing commentary on post-Vietnam America for an anthem of nationalistic pride.

The latest release from Kurt Vile titled Wakin on a Pretty Daze is the closest an artist has come to harnessing the ghost of Tom Joad that we have seen in a long time and the reason is because it sounds completely unlike Springsteen altogether. On the surface it seems almost too easy to align the two. From the healthy dosage of the same slapback delay we heard all over Nebraska on tracks like Daze’s “Pure Pain”, to Jonathan Demme being the producer behind the video for lead track “Wakin on a Pretty Day”, whom also produced the video for Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia”, to the “Springsteen pristine” name drop on “Snowflakes Are Dancing”. It all seems to be very much a tribute, but the reality is it is far more than that. It is the way that Wakin on a Pretty Daze revels in a celebration of the everyday that propells Vile to a level of purely Springsteenian ethos.

The follow up to 2011’s Smoke Ring For My Halo, produced again by John Agnello,  is by far Vile’s most expansive and ambitious record to date. Wakin on a Pretty Daze truly comes into its own in the way that it manages to communicate the intangible qualities of ‘spirit’ and ‘feeling’ with pinpoint accuracy. It doesn’t take Vile’s “I live along a straight line” from the album’s opening track to identify Daze as a testament to the open road. The exhausting relentlessness of being a touring musician-father is articulated in the way that Vile’s mumble-along lyrical narratives read as torn out leaflets from a far weightier tome about yearning for place. At times it seems that Vile is figuring out the lyrics as he goes, from a slew of half-forgotten, partial melodies that have popped in and out of his head while journeying across the great American landscape. Not only does Vile’s presentation give off the impression that he has so much to say about nothing at all, but his murmurings more accurately read as extra cushioning for leaving the one-liners room for the laugh track to die, and the more meaningful lines hit with hair-raising clarity.

Wakin on a Pretty Daze is a mood record. The 11 tracks are as much about atmosphere as they are about uttered or nuanced meaning. Bouncing between mid-tempo rockers like “Never Run Away” or “Snake Charmer”, and the more subdued numbers like album closer “Goldtone” there is not a single substandard track on the entire album. Most importantly, they all contribute to creating an all-encompassing entanglement out of virtual happenstance that only Kurt Vile could offer. Daze is a snapshot of the American condition as seen through the eyes of Kurt Vile and paints a vivid image of the type of insurmountably bleak vision that Springsteen’s Nebraska constructed in 1982. Springsteen is not about guitar tone or production techniques. Springsteen is about genuine reflection on one man’s interpretation of working-class strife. The instrumentation matters far less, regardless of how much aptly placed cowbell can show up on one record, than serving as a forum for navigating the experience of everyday life. The same can be said for the way that Vile’s Wakin on a Pretty Daze exists in a completely timeless moment, entirely detached from any particular point in time, never lingering for too long, and simultaneously both now and then.

There is a sense that Wakin on a Pretty Daze is a revelation of sorts. On the stand out track “Too Hard” Vile swears off smoking and partying too hard with the simple trade off of doing the very best he can with the life he was given. The track reads like a tiny confessional that shows Vile recognizing the very human elements of his being. It’s bare, vulnerable, gut wrenching and ethereal and with the opening lines “Take your time, so they say, and that’s probably the best way to be” it seems that no truer words could encapsulate the trajectory of Vile’s career to this point. But, for Vile, complacency with the ordinary is not a consolation prize, it’s an accomplishment; and there is something extremely admirable about such an authentic and honest existence. Wakin on a Pretty Daze may not quite be the conventional platinum record he was hoping for, but something tells us it will do just fine.


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