Dylan’s Quick Pick of The Week: Kurt Vile’s Wakin On A Pretty Daze

by Dylan Otterbein on April 8, 2013

Posted in: Album Review, Folk, Music

Artist: Kurt Vile
Album: Wakin On A Pretty Daze
Label: Matador
Release Date: Tuesday April 9, 2013
Genre: Lo-Fi Folk/Rock
Grade: A
RIYL: Mac Demarco, Pavement, Cass McCombs

The latest from Philly psychedelic songwriter Kurt Vile sounds as fresh as these first tastes of spring, and is just as long awaited. Wakin On A Pretty Daze follows Vile’s critically acclaimed 2011 release, and delivers the same standard of transfixing, breezy guitar lines that earned him a staunch following last year. With six of the eleven tracks clocking in over six minutes long, you might expect Daze to feel lackluster or over-indulgent, but Vile’s hazy lullabies read as more leisurely than lazy. Drenched in shimmery steel-string twang and gloriously grumbled epiphanies, the title track feels like a breezy summer car-ride through your hometown, where time slows down and your day looks up. And on the self-aware “Too Hard”, Vile balances an inevitable nostalgia for reckless youth with thoughtful vows for his future, proving that the one-time sludge-rock slacker has done his fair share of growing up. Surely, Daze is Kurt’s most mature record yet, and arguably his most musically impressive; his unsuspectingly meticulous guitar rifts and dreamy vocals culminate in a refreshing release that hits every soundtrack-to-our-summer spot.

Essential Tracks: “Wakin On A Pretty Day”, “Girl Called Alex” “Never Run Away”, “Too Hard”