KURT VILE

Camden Barfly | March 7th

Having delivered one of our favourite albums of recent years in 2011’s Smoke Ring for My Halo, the speculation that Kurt Vile’s next record will be his best yet is very welcome indeed. With that in mind, tonight we’re extremely fortunate to be standing in a packed out Camden Barfly alongside 200-odd competition winners for a solo acoustic show in which he’ll showcase some of his new LP, Walkin On a Pretty Daze.

Like his dreamy rock ‘n’ roll folk, the young man from Philadelphia is a true one-off. Peering out from behind his straggly mane, he arrives onstage with his guitar only to realise that the battery for his all-important delay pedal is out. Without wanting to sound like his father, he could have got this organised hours ago; he was in the bar downstairs having a beer at half seven and it’s gone half ten now. Never mind – Vile apologises politely whilst one of his mates goes to the garage over the road to get batteries. And on the plus side, we get to listen to a bit of last-minute sound checking, in which you can really focus upon the lushness of Vile’s guitar tone and chord choices.

For someone who records such beautiful and iconic music, Vile has at times been guilty of somewhat underwhelming with his live performances, an accusation that can partly be attributed to his backing band the Violators. However, this evening he plays alone with just an acoustic guitar and some spacey effects pedals. Despite the lack of percussion and extra guitar layers, these songs are more purely laid bare, more fairly representative in this form. For example, Baby’s Arms sounds perfect tonight, in stark contrast to the disappointingly weak version performed alongside his band at the Forum last December. Based on the quality of the new songs we hear this evening, his popularity and therefore likelihood of playing bigger venues is only going to increase. Still, you can’t help thinking a smaller room like the one we find ourselves in tonight is closer to his natural habitat.

The most important thing to take away from this set though, is that Kurt Vile’s new stuff sounds really, really nice. Wakin on a Pretty Day seems to ramble along in a beautiful daze forever. In fact, tonight’s set definitely peaks when you hear Vile begin a song with an unfamiliar chord sequence or singing new words in his grisly yet soothing voice. Girl Called Alex is particularly lovely. Vile may not know it yet, but from what we’ve just heard, the understated reverence directed his way seems sure to keep piling up.

– – – – – – – – – –

Words: Jack Bolter

kurtvile.com