Kurt Vile, Smoke Ring For My Halo
The ever prolific Kurt Vile will return to his solo ways in March with the release of Smoke Ring for My Halo, his second major label full-length. After drooling over a lot of his earlier work, I had a hard time connecting with Childish Prodigy, his first supposed to be breakout record on Matador. Vile tried on a louder, rockier sound and it didn’t quite fit. I have always preferred his slower, quieter moments where he is more laid-back crooner and less hard rocker. “Jesus Fever”, our first listen from Smoke Ring, answers that call. It sounds like he took a few pages from his War On Drugs books, channeling the rustic Fleetwood Mac sound they perfected on “Comin’ Through”. If “Jesus Fever” is an indication of the rest of Smoke Ring, second time may be the charm for Vile and Matador.
