Album of the Month #2

My Album of the Month this month is Kurt Vile’s 2013 album Walkin On A Pretty Daze, which is a personal favourite of mine, I just keep coming back to it! It gets pretty regular rotation both in the “workshop” and “staff room” here at ABL Pedals.

Having just celebrated its 10th anniversary this is now probably considered Vile’s breakout album, introducing many to his brand of freak-folk psyche meets classic rock indie music. With the sprawling title track opener clocking in at almost the 10-minute mark, it comes a statement of intent that Mr Vile does not do things in half measures! Throughout the album, big guitars sit atop spacey synths and a steady, measured rhythm section provided by his backing band The Violators, with rocker “KV Crimes” being a prime example of this.

Vile doesn’t leave behind his folkier roots with numbers like, “Too Hard” featuring finger-picked looped acoustic lines under the vocals and layers of echoey synths and guitars. What features throughout is his trademark almost spoken vocal style sitting just right in what for some songs is a busy mix, but with nothing overcrowding the song itself.

Effects used:

As a well-documented gearhead, there are all sorts of effects all over this album, maybe even the whole hog:  

• Overdrive/distortion

• Fuzz

• Chorus

• Phase

• Delay

• Flanger

• Wah-wah

• Reverb
  And more…

And those aren’t just exclusive to the guitars, they’re all over the keys and synths too. The guitar sounds sound (to my ear) for the most part like Fender-type (Vile is a well-known Jaguar/Jazzmaster player) guitars through valve amps with LOADS of pedals on top. It’s clear that the studio was being used to experiment with and to see what could be created as they went.

If you like indie, classic rock and everything in between but don’t know where to start with Kurt Vile I’d recommend this album as an entry point.

RIP Rob Laakso.