Damien Jurado
On My Way to Absence
Secretly Canadian Records

Damien Jurado has been quietly releasing albums and singles of great emotional depth and weight for the better part of 10 years. In that time, he has gained a loyal following but has watched his forbears (Bright Eyes, Pedro The Lion, etc.) get all the press and headlines and headaches of success. It might be that it is better this way for Jurado. Instead of becoming too ambitious and releasing double albums or trying to reinvent himself or his sound, he has stuck to his acoustic guitar and plaintive voice putting out albums like his recent release, On My Way To Absence, and calmly breaking the hearts of anyone who cares to listen.

To place his music ideologically into a category for those who are unfamiliar with his work, Jurado does partake of the folk and country idioms but also imbues them with the ideals of most indie rock and pop records. That might sound like a heady description but there is no easy way to talk about what Jurado does. Take for example, the song “Big Decision”. Here, Jurado has only two phrases to sing (”Made a big decision/think I left you out” and “Got a lot of problems/think I’ll work it out”) and realizes that he doesn’t need to explain those anymore than necessary. Instead he sings them in his plaintive voice, adding tasteful backing vocals and then starts layering on a handpicking guitar line, strings, and brushed drums. On top of that, there is the samples, keyboard line, and even a radio that comes in towards the end. The effect is stunning and (to quote a reminiscent song of Paul Westerberg’s) sadly beautiful.

Where this CD fails is in its lyrical content which is odd to mention considering how rich his previous work is in storytelling and poetry. Here it seems Jurado is getting a little too precious for his own good. On the song “Fuel”, he spins an odd Faulkner-esque tale replete with Biblical references and a chorus that all seem apropos of nothing. There is some poetry to it, but the metaphor was lost at least on this listener. As well, when Jurado goes into full Neil Young mode with the fuzzed out vocals and heavy guitars, it falls flat and doesn’t seem nearly as honest as the rest of the album.