Kurt Vile - b'lieve i'm going down

It’s rare to find a record of such seeming straightforwardness that still manages to enchant so consistently as this. b’lieve i’m going down… is an exercise in frankness and acoustics of such high order that by the end of the hour that it takes to play out you’ll think of dirt as something romantic and wonder why anyone ever bothers messing with complicated words. That’s the Vile effect. This isn’t a tight album but it embraces its looseness, falling into long trances of instrumental repetition that push up track lengths but just about manage to get away with not feeling forced - though Lost My Head There comes closest. That’s Life,Tho floors you with a dreamy fairy tale of brutal realism and is probably the standout piece. That said, there isn’t a dud to be found here. Through the dusty hypnotism of Wheelhouse via the itchy, broken and brilliant All In A Daze Work and on to Wild Imagination with its languid closing breaths Vile fills every nook with airy purpose. And we haven’t even mentioned Stand Inside yet. Oh my. b’lieve i’m going down… will undoubtedly end this year as one of my favourite releases of 2015.