By Jeffrey Trainor (The Cascade) – Email
From humble beginnings in Philadelphia, slack-rocker Kurt Vile emerged into the music scene along with his close friend Adam Granduciel, who is best known as the front man of the rock band The War on Drugs. In many ways, Vile’s solo tunes emulate a close similarity to The War on Drugs, but Vile takes that old school Americana rock vibe to an even more laid-back and chilledout space. This seeps into all of Vile’s releases, including his latest, b’lieve i’m going down, giving them a very unique and sparse feeling. However, on this album, this sparse sloppiness is taken to a new level even for Vile, which ends up leaving the record feeling like a collection of demos. It feels like an incomplete album, filled with half-baked song ideas that, with greater attention and time, could have been formed into more full and interesting pieces.
The best track on the album is the opener, “Pretty Pimpin’.” This is Vile at his best — plucking his guitar, rambling on about his style, and backed by a strong and steady drum and bass beat. However, the strong composition of “Pretty Pimpin’” is not a representation of what’s to come on b’lieve I’m going down, and marks one of the album’s few clear and engaging moments. Yes, there are tracks such as “Dust Bunnies” and “Lost My Head There,” which contain some catchy rhythms and enticing instrumental moments, but these attractive points are unfortunately the exception, as most of the album fails to draw you in.
My primary issue with this record is the unpolished nature that is carried throughout it. I am aware that it is Vile’s style to be “mellow” and “carefree,” but b’lieve I’m going down takes this too far. At times, it feels like we are just listening to Vile experimenting in his jam space, and that anything he plays or comes up with during his practice session is tracked for the record. It essentially gives the impression that Vile sat down day after day, and whatever he finished by day’s end was put on the album. Tracks like “All in a Daze Work” and “Stand Inside” are perfect examples of this, as both wander aimlessly for five minutes, never shifting in melody, aesthetic, or emotion. After about two minutes of listening to the ramble, you are left begging for the song to be finished, wondering why it was included on the record.
Vile has previously been successful at incorporating long, wandering pieces into his records, such as the track “Wakin on a Pretty Daze,” which spanned over nine minutes but never felt like it was dragging on. The issue with b’lieve I’m going down is that these long, drawn-out ideas never develop into anything worthwhile, which is unfortunate both for Vile and the listener.
If you’ve listened to anything by Kurt Vile before, you probably already know what you’re going to get with b’lieve I’m going down. However, if you are new to Vile’s work, I would suggest you steer clear of this record, as it will only deter you from checking out some of his better work.
