Als er iemand is die geen rekening houdt met de standaard en altijd zijn eigen ding doet, is het Kurt Vile wel. Zo ook op zijn nieuwste EP Back To Moon Beach. Zoals Kurt zelf zegt: “Here’s my ep… ok, it’s longer than an ep… now I call it a Kurt Vile compilation.”
Of de lengte wat langer is dan een ‘gewoon’ EP? Zeker! Back To Moon Beach bevat maar liefst negen nummers. Met een kloksnelheid van iets minder dan een uur zou dit een lange volledige plaat zijn volgens de maatstaf van vrijwel elke andere artiest. En dat allemaal in Vile’s eigen en unieke stijl waarbij het ingetogen geluid van de piano en gitaar wordt gecombineerd met de relaxte zang van de Amerikaan.
Op Another good year for the roses na zijn de eerste zes nummers volledig nieuw voor de wereld. Deze nummers zijn ontstaan tijdens verschillende muzikale sessies de afgelopen vier jaar en vertegenwoordigen het brede aantal samenwerkingen van Kurt Vile met medemuzikanten. De EP eindigt met een paar fanfavorieten, namelijk de covers van Wilco’s Passenger Side en Must Be Santa, het kerstlied van Bob Dylan.
Hieronder het originele Engelstalige persbericht.
“Vile remains our era’s great inheritor of the Neil Young/Meat Puppets/Dinosaur Jr. tradition of bending chords, spooling out hypnotic solos, and chilling with your demons until they start feeling like drinking buddies.” — Rolling Stone
“Loose, sprawling, and filled with spacey but intimate jams that couple drum machines, smoke-curled guitars, and off the cuff vocals, [(watch my moves)] feels like being invited into Vile’s head to sit down and hang out a spell.” — Aquarium Drunkard
“Vile’s sprawling new album captures the magic, loss and wonderment of being alive.”
— AV Club
Today, Kurt Vile releases Back to Moon Beach, his new EP on Verve. In conjunction, Vile announces 2024 North American tour dates. Back to Moon Beach is an EP by no one’s definition but Kurt Vile’s. Clocking in at just shy of an hour, this would be a long full-length record by most any other artist’s yardstick; but for Vile, the collection is an expression of just how deep his well of non-album material runs. Following his 2022 album, (watch my moves), Back to Moon Beach collects new songs, one-offs, covers, and newly reworked versions of beloved tracks. It is presented in three ways: a standard vinyl release with 6 tracks, a digital/CD format with 9 tracks, and a deluxe “direct-to-consumer” double-LP with 10 tracks (which includes the only place non-Amazon users can hear Kurt’s cover of Charli XCX’s “Constant Repeat”). Full track listings are provided below.
Lead single “Another good year for the roses” is Back to Moon Beach’s opening track, a richly psychedelic downtempo earworm with an instantly memorable arpeggiated piano melody. The song was co-produced by and features Cate Le Bon, and also features Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Courtney Barnett). This is peak KV, and “roses” shows Vile remains “nothing short of one of the best modern American songwriters” (Uproxx). The video features a pastoral scene of Kurt and friends in the woods, jamming out, before he joins a new band made up of actors Kevin Corrigan and Michael Shannon for a show at NYC dive Otto’s Shrunken Head.
Hi! Here’s the opening track from my ep… ok, it’s longer than an ep… now I call it a KV comp. The first 6 tracks — which are the ones that fit on a single LP — are new to the world, with one foot in the not-too-distant past and the other with one tiny toe pointing toward the future. Together my feet are like a couple spanning time together. This song was started at Stinson Beach, CA in September 2019 for a few days of recording with Rob Laakso, Stella Mozgawa, Chris Cohen, Cate Le Bon (and Adam Langellotti floating as a fly on the wall as well). Adam and I being the two overseers across this entire endeavor: we finished it on our own (and with some friends along the way). We ended up demonically overdubbing for weeks straight at OKV Central, Philly (my studio)… this was all of May 2023… so many magic moments. – Kurt Vile
Culled from various sessions over the last four years, and representing a wide swath of the inspirational musical community Vile surrounds himself with, the core 4 songs of Back to Moon Beach — tracks 1, 2, 3 and 6 — were born in the fall of 2019 at Panoramic Studios in Stinson Beach, California alongside close musical partners Rob Laakso, Stella Mozgawa, and Chris Cohen, with co-production by Cate Le Bon (tracks 1, 3 and 6). Later fleshed out with bandmate and producer / engineer Adam Langelotti, additional musical parts were played by “Farmer” Dave Scher and Mikel Patrick Avery. Many other moments (including hella overdubs on the Stinson Beach material) are from intense sessions on Planet Philly at Vile’s studio: OKV Central. It’s been a heavy few years and plenty of excuses to get lost in outer space behind the microphones. Mant Sounds — Vile’s go-to recording studio in Los Angeles — was a third and crucial launchpad to ram these sessions home, a familiar spaceship run by Rob Schnapf and often flown by Matt Schuessler as engineer.
Somberly, the Stinson Beach material in the collection are some of the final unreleased recordings with Kurt’s longtime creative partner Rob Laakso, prior to his passing in early 2023. Back to Moon Beach is rounded out with a few fan favorites — his covers of Wilco’s “Passenger Side” and Bob Dylan’s Christmas song, “Must Be Santa,” (featuring vocals by Kurt’s daughters Awilda and Delphine Vile) which Vile is excited to bring to a wider platform (“just in time for the holidays!”) after its Spotify-only release last year. The final track brings-it-all-back-home with a punched-up, radio-ready version of (watch my moves) standout “Cool Water” – originally recorded with the Violators in January 2020 by Rob Schnapf at Mant sounds and remixed by Rob Schnapf again in May 2023 for Back to Moon Beach.
Next spring, Vile will embark on a headlining North American tour, with stops in Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans and more, plus a performance at the beloved Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN. A full list of dates are below and tickets are on sale Friday, 10/27 at 10am local time.
KURT VILE US TOUR DATES (new dates in bold)
Sat. Nov. 18 – Allentown, PA @ Miller Symphony Hall
Sun. March 17 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar +
Mon. March 18 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall +
Tue. March 19 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall + &
Thu. March 21 – Sun. March 24 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival
Fri. March 22 – Memphis, TN @ Minglewood Hall +
Sat. March 23 – Little Rock, AR @ The Hall +
Sun. March 24 – Oxford, MS @ The Lyric Oxford +
Tue. March 26 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s +
Wed. March 27 – Birmingham, AL @ Iron City +
Thu. March 28 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse +
Fri. March 29 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club +
BACK TO MOON BEACH DIGITAL/STREAMING/CD TRACKLIST
1. Another good year for the roses (5:34)
2. Touched somethin (caught a virus) (6:31)
3. Back to Moon Beach (8:15)
4. Like a wounded bird trying to fly (5:29)
5. Blues come for some (5:09)
6. Tom Petty’s gone (but tell him i asked for him) (8:15)
7. Must Be Santa (5:12)
8. Passenger side (3:10)
9. Cool Water (Single Mix) (4:29)
BACK TO MOON BEACH VINYL (STANDARD) TRACKLIST
SIDE A
1. Another good year for the roses (5:34)
2. Touched somethin (caught a virus) (6:31)
3. Back to Moon Beach (8:15)
SIDE B
1. Like a wounded bird trying to fly (5:29)
2. Blues come for some (5:09)
3. Tom Petty’s gone (but tell him i asked for him) (8:15)
BACK TO MOON BEACH VINYL (DELUXE D2C-ONLY) TRACKLIST
SIDE A
1. Another good year for the roses (5:34)
2. Touched somethin (caught a virus) (6:31)
3. Back to Moon Beach (8:15)
SIDE B
1. Like a wounded bird trying to fly (5:29)
2. Blues come for some (5:09)
3. Tom Petty’s gone (but tell him i asked for him) (8:15)
SIDE C
1. Must Be Santa (5:12)
2. Passenger side (3:10)
SIDE D
1. Cool Water (Single Mix) (4:29)
2. Constant Repeat (5:22)
