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Despite their low profiles, these records won a modest blog-buzz for their hazy, personal take on the classic singer-songwriter paradigm. Recorded alone on rudimentary home-recording equipment, and aided by primitive FX and reverb-drenched vocals, Vile’s tunes channelled such masters of rock songcraft as Neil Young and Bob Dylan, though Vile’s idiosyncratic production approach – with a heavy lo-fi aesthetic, revelling in distortion and analogue crackle – made the sound his own.
Childish Prodigy, his third full-length, is his first for Matador Records and therefore his first widely-available release. Vile marks this step into the relative big league by inviting his touring band, The Violators, into the studio with him for a couple of tracks, breaking up the hushed and intimate vibe of the previous albums with a ragged Crazy Horse stomp (opener Hunchback) and frayed charm (the lackadaisical Monkey). In such moments, Childish Prodigy feels like some obscure 70s rock LP discovered by chance in a charity shop, an ambiance Vile no doubt aimed for. Freak Train, which closes the album’s first side, captures this vibe perfectly, its chugging seven-minute guitar ’n’ sax rock-out sounding like an indie-rock Born to Run.
Vile’s solo recordings, meanwhile, continue to impress. Dead Alive – which sounds like Thurston Moore singing The Rolling Stones’ Play with Fire – is mesmerising, with a brooding menace; similarly, the aching and pretty Heart Attack is given an electrified edge by Vile’s bluesy holler, sounding like Dylan in caustic, chiding Like a Rolling Stone mode.
His roots might be easy to trace, but Childish Prodigy is more than the product of a tasteful record collection. --Stevie Chick
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Customer Reviews
Facts:
1. Kurt Vile is the new revelation.
2. If we all are not aware of Mister Vile via the culture at large within the next year it will be due to a failing of the universe's mysterious workings.
3. You don't have anything better to spend ten bucks on.
4. If you have ears and have not listened to Kurt Vile you are disrespecting Jesus. Jesus gave us all ears so that we could someday hear this music.
5. I was serious about number 3. Quit smoking for two days if you have to. This will more than make up for it.
Nonetheless, this album refreshingly strays from the cookie-cutter studio sound that most bands in the "indie" category tend to produce.
Opening track "Hunchback" is the perfect preview for what's to come; a mix of menacing, distorted guitars aligned with different patterns of percussion and keys.
"Blackberry Song" is the perfect, bittersweet driving tune, while "Monkey" reflects why many have compared Vile to Tom Petty, although the keys and structure of this song remind me of tracks by Oasis and The Verve.
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