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Damien Jurado
Ghost Of David
Oops, I’m sorry. I didn’t really mean to walk in on you like that. I should have knocked first before I put your CD on. That’s usually what I feel like when I’m listening to the hyper-sensitive musings of acous-trospective vets like Will Oldham, Pedro The Lion, or My Dad Is Dead. I always feel like I’m intruding on their private world of inner sorrow, meant as some kind of shared therapy when transferred to disc. Personally, I just dig the tunes on Damien Jurado’s new album, sure to be compared to the sanctums of Pedro and MDID for its barren production and somber tones. The most distinctive influence here is Neil Young’s murky first-person accounts, (like the era that produced “The Needle And The Damage Done”), where Jurado’s fragile verses nearly threaten to unravel before your ears. Yet, someway Jurado perseveres for a few choruses, serving up enough sympathy for the listener to protectively clutch before he begins drifting onward. Some folks may hear Nick Drake, others Tim Buckley, yet Jurado has his own sense of suspended, tension-filled timing, that forces you to hang onto every word of “Tonight I Will Retire,” or marvel at the beautiful, haunting guitar lines of the title track (a rare electric version). I even hear some trippy, Mercury Rev-like chicanery for the droney “Rearview,” but I’m most taken with “Parking Lot,” where Roseanne Thomas (Emmylou to Damien’s Gram) shines with a subdued samba beat. Most folks may not dig the claustrophobic sound (so dyi, it nearly hurts), but I wouldn’t feel afraid to walk in again on Jurado’s verse making. –peter moore (Sub Pop)
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