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From his first cassette recorded as a teenager with an ear bent on vintage Pavement and (Smog) on through to his current work on mega-indie Matador Records, it has been quite a treat to see Kurt Vile grow up on tape.
And his fifth proper album informs us that this Philadelphia boy who once drove a forklift to support his artistry has become a grown-ass man with his most focused and nuanced collection of songs to date.
There’s a certain kind of heft to Wakin on a Pretty Daze that wasn’t present on a Kurt Vile LP before. And not just with regards to the length of several of the songs that appear on this eleven-track collection bookended by the nine-and-a-half minute "Wakin on a Pretty Day" and the mesmerizing ten-plus minute comedown "Goldtone". What is more prevalent perhaps is the sense of ease by which the songs seem to just roll out of your headphones as Vile and his current primary Violators–multi-instrumentalists Jesse Trbovich and Rob Laakso–submerge the street cool of late-80s Lou Reed into that hazy psych-rock thing he’s been doing since since his bedroom dubbing days, albeit less volatile from the sounds of such key tracks as "Was All Talk" and "Shame Chamber".
Assisting Vile on Daze in addition to his bandmates is an impressive list of prolific pals, including veteran producer John Angello, drummers Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint, Vince Nudo of Priestess and former Violator Michael Johnson replacing recently fired skinsman Mike Zanghi, RTX’s Jennifer Herrema, Emily Kokal of Warpaint, Woods man Jeremy Earl and, across several cuts, Farmer Dave Scher of Beachwood Sparks fame, whose lap-steel and Wurlitzer work on songs like "Girl Called Alex" and "Pure Pain" beautifully achieve the stony California canyon vibe Kurt was looking to achieve on this record. Wakin on a Pretty Daze is the sound of a boy becoming a man before our very ears.
