Album review: Damien Jurado shows gift for catchy hooks and expression remain undiminished

Visions of Us on the Land by Damien Jurado. Courtesy Secretly Canadian

Visions of Us on the Land

Damien Jurado

(Secretly Canadian)

Three and a half stars

Soul-searchingly sentimental young men with acoustic guitars may be back in fashion, but where does that leave the old guard of traditionally troubled troubadours?

Sam Smith was just five years old when Sub Pop released Damien Jurado's wispy 1997 debut Waters Ave S – here the Seattle singer-songwriter clocks a compelling 13th LP that shows his dual gifts for catchy hooks and a tight turn of phrase are undiminished.

There’s a dreamy, stripped-back charm to this lo-fi, demo-like set, with Jurado’s straight acoustic rhythms driven by rigid, military drumming, and peppered with spooky, echo-laden vocal harmonies.

A warm spirit of 1960s psychedelia presides: Lon Bella is a trippy West Coast folk-rocker. TAQOMA bursts into a haze of pysch fuzz-guitar overdubs. Walrus has the white-funk strut of early Beck, plus a seedy sax solo. The ballads always convince – finger-picked charmers Prisms and On the Land Blues recall even Nick Drake.

There’s neither the sonic experimentation or confessional intimacy that marked the best of his earlier work, but there remains plenty today’s stars could learn from Jurado’s enduring ability to engage.