FILTER ALBUMS
Feel like going home
Philly’s wandering minstrel returns to his roots on epic ninth album.
By Keith Cameron.
Eyes on the prize: Kurt Vile searches for his basement tapes.
Kurt Vile
★★★★
(Watch My Moves)
VERVE. CD/DL/LP
FOR ALL that he venerates blue-collar Philadelphia and his schooling in the city’s psychedelic underground, there’s big ambition lurking beneath Kurt Vile’s shaggy mane. Calling 2008’s debut album Constant Hitmaker wasn’t wholly unserious. His most recent release, the Speed, Sound, Lonely KV EP saw him conjoined in arpeggiated twang and harmony with his hero John Prine; days after their recording session the pair performed together at the Grand Ole Opry. Vile has consistently aligned towards essentially traditional musical contexts.