KURT VILE Vinilo y CD

Review: The Philadelphia troubadour is on typically dazed and understated form on this sixth solo effort, yet does nothing to dissuade all or any observers from crowning him the modern king of slacker introspection. A singer-songwriter in the most old-fashioned and engaging of ways, his earthy craft is showcased in a collection of songs that veer engagingly from paranoia to overconfidence, and from wry cynicism to cheerful optimism, Strangest of all however, for all the nods to the likes of Dylan and Lennon stylistically, Vile never sounds like an artist beholden to retro fetishism, more one whose melodic skills and heavy-lidded charm captivate on their own terms, all the while cloaked in his trademark narcotic mid-afternoon haze of a sound.