Kurt Vile - Wakin' On A Pretty Daze

The opening of an album can make or break it.  It’s foreplay, a set up, an introduction, the caesar salad before the pan-seared halibut with salmoriglio.  And if it doesn’t hit right off the bat, pack a solid punch, make the listener want more, then it’s in the dumpster right next to the day old pomelo chicken francese. 

From Tom Petty’s “baby, don’t it feel like heaven right now” kicking off Hard Promises, to Nirvana’s “teenage angst has paid off well,” rocketing us to In Utero, those who have graduated before us from the School of Rock have declared that great albums start with great opening lines. 

Kurt Vile’s Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze lifts off with “wakin’, the dawn of day, and I gotta think about what I wanna say”.   And while that may not do anything for you on paper, once you’re exposed to it amidst the music floating effortlessly behind Vile’s almost spoken word delivery, steady strumming acoustic guitar and care-free lackadaisical riff deriving from a wavy psychedelic effect pedal, you’re onboard.     

Aside from the production, consisting of very meticulous, detailed, epic musical compositions that go on and on for an average of 7 minutes, the most unique element of this album are the lyrics.  “You met a young man who was a wild child, who harmonizes keys in his dronin’ mind, saxophones sing from inside his head, cryin’,” KV sings in ‘Never Run Away’, one of the shorter songs of this set, weighing in at just 3 1/2 minutes. 

Vile’s vocals are akin to loud whispers. It’s his thing, this kind of Lou Reed swagger with Petty/Dylan accents.  And he owns it.  It’s this delivery that brings the image of a “phone ringing off the shelf, I guess it wanted to kill itself,” to life like no other.  

KV is a great artist to get hooked on. Like many, I started with his 2011 Smoke Ring for My Halo, that was my main jam last year.  And this year, you’ll find Wakin’ on a lot of Best Of 2013 lists.  And while those Best Of lists are amongst the stupidest things on the internet, Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze will rightfully belong up near the top, right behind Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz, of course.  

“Everyone’s sayin’ I should probably give up, and hey, I wouldn’t wanna waste no time, I couldn’t look myself in the mirror, then again, why would I?”