Kurt Vile - Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze
Matador
April 9th, 2013.
Kurt Vile's indifferent tunes hang around like soundtracks for a generation of down-and-out youths. 'Wakin on a Pretty Daze' treads a fine line of 'give up' and 'get going'. It's an astounding project which is home to a beautiful sound palette and breadth of sonic scope. One of the finest releases of the 2010's, with little to no thought put into the decision.
We could, but whats the point? Chill out. Put a cap on those plans. Leave things be. Endless Summer sun within the parameters of a melancholic malaise. The rays travel on an air of unreasonable numbness. The touch bears a sense of paralysis - an echo of resonant sorrow. An organic strain of self-doubt and suspicion. Ecstatic with life, but not feeling happy in any way - subdued to the nth degree. Submerged in the knowledge that everything's going, and gone, to plan, but the feeling evades you; it goes over your head and under your heart - as if you're adjusted for different values. Born to simmer, never settle. You don’t mind, but would much prefer the hum to cease.
Bathing in the coolstream of the suns gaze. Soaking up the infinite chill. All these things that you worry about, all these things that wait on the horizon, will sort themselves out. Hands off. Time will take care of them. The vague hopes of your youth shimmer like oasis' in the distant past - full of colour and wishful thinking. The wishing well is running dry and the time for shifting gear long gone. Meandering around in fits of temporary bliss - they say they'll stay around forever, they promise, even, and you believe them, but you blink and they're gone. Like whispers in the wind. Blown on the breeze.
Straying from the path, the path that was never yours. Feeling down and out is a guarantee. How you react and respond is up to you. Decisions are hard to make, but they must be made. Sitting around and waiting won't, and never will, make the difference you seek. You can ease up within it for a while, but ultimately it becomes too heavy to sit with. As lax and stand off-ish as you may be about it, you know when the time has come.
It's just another day in the shame chamber.
