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Wakin on a Pretty Daze

Kurt Vile
MATADOR

Apr 10, 2013 at 5:00 am

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“There’s a time in my life / That I sometimes go back to” is an aphoristic taste of Wakin on a Pretty Daze’s screened-in porch atmosphere. Kurt Vile’s sleepy-eyed sequel to his critically acclaimed Smoke Ring For My Halo resembles a sedate Marc Bolan on a warm summer afternoon between a beer and the setting sun’s amber glow. Wakin is a more traditional take on the fashion indie rockers like Real Estate and The Antlers use in their product, though Vile creates music with less innocence and more lyrical muscle. Occasionally the songs conk out and become harmonic dreamscapes that — depending on the patience of the listener — will feel either necessary or excessive. Finally, nothing better mirrors the album’s musical integrity than the graffiti on the cover itself; both have left a mark.