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Album Review

Kurt Vile
Childish Prodigy Matador

Article written by Peter W - Nov 28, 2009

Kurt Vile is certainly no slouch; aside from The War on Drugs’ great debut album last year (Vile is their lead guitarist), this splendidly named Philadelphian has also released two solo LPs since 2008 - the very impressive ‘Constant Hitmaker’ & the highly enjoyable follow-up, ‘God is Saying This to You’. ‘Childish Prodigy’ is his first for Matador, and the first to feature his touring band, the Violators.

The album’s two distinct guises – Fuzzy guitar rock / drone balladry – should combine effortlessly but here, for the most part, it makes for a very disjointed listen. This may be partly down to Vile’s freshly hired backing band only making fleeting visits and the clean(er) production making their appearance / absence all the more apparent; furthermore, there’s less low-fi charm this time to disguise the weaker tracks’ shortcomings - an unfortunate consequence of a healthier recording budget.

It’s not all bad news though, ‘Overnite Religion’ is a wonderfully atmospheric slice of Country-tinged fuzz, the candid rock of ‘He’s Alright’ hardly befits the album but is pleasant all the same, and the finger-picking niceties of ‘Blackberry Song’ serve as a crucial antidote to the foregoing seven-minute screed that is ‘Freak Train’.

It feels like Vile had prepared two very different albums that were subsequently edited down and crudely jumbled together, so while there’s still some fine moments it’s a very uneven and patchy affair.

Links:
http://www.kurtvile.com

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