Arts and Entertainment
Vile leaves lo-fi for a new high
By Taylor Coe '13, Arts & Entertainment Editor
October 20, 2011
Known for his moody songwriting and in-concert guitar workouts, Kurt Vile is equal parts reflective singer-songwriter and noise rocker à la Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Vile, along with his backing band the Violators, will demonstrate that curious combination on Saturday night in the Fillius Events Barn during the first IMF concert of the semester. The atmospheric indie band Lord Huron will open the show.
Since 2008, Vile has released three moody albums of homespun lo-fi recordings, culminating in his 2009 album, Childish Prodigy, before the release of the cleaner, more polished Smoke Ring For My Halo this past summer. This fourth album highlights Vile’s careful composition and his ear for melody, something that his earlier, lo-fi recordings did not fully accomplish.
As is the case with fellow lo-fi guru Robert Pollard—leader of the band Guided by Voices—Vile has sacrificed the lo-fi aesthetic for the sharpening effect afforded by better production values. But critics seem to think that the loss of hiss and fuzz isn’t all that much of a loss at all. The past few months have seen Vile reaping in the critical plaudits for Smoke Ring For My Halo, including from Rolling Stone writer Will Hermes, who appreciates the way that “the stoner haze lifts a bit, and he settles on a mood: chilled-out but guarded, and wrapped in gorgeous folk-blues guitar-picking.”
But there’s not only the sound to consider with Vile’s work; there is also the deftness of his lyrics, which are just as often Dylanesque and verbose as they are clipped and quiet. The song “Runners Up” moves quickly enough that one might miss Vile’s lyrical ingenuity, including the nugget of a line: “When it’s looking dark, punch the future in the face.”
Lord Huron, on the other hand, presents a very different sonic experience. With their expertly textured songs—boasting fine-tuned soundscapes with delicate brushstrokes of sound—Lord Huron is a band that sounds more than comfortable in the studio environment. The notion of a Lord Huron song with any kind of Kurt Vile recording approach seems somewhat loony. Songs such as “The Stranger” and “Son of a Gun” off The Mighty EP roil with quiet desperation, especially “Son of a Gun,” which tells the story of a young woman and her thieving, unreliable boyfriend. The lyrics, however, float just beneath the texture of the song and emerge to the listener only gradually. The combination of Lord Huron and Vile will make for a fascinating show. The concert will be on Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. in the Fillius Events Barn.