continues....

17- Damien Jurado 'Caught In The Trees'

Slight change of direction for Seattle songsmith Damien Jurado. More upbeat songs with terrific harmonies, makes this his most rewarding set to date.

16- Sun Kil Moon 'April'

A really difficult album to get into. The songwriting is as strong as ever from Kozelek but the melodies take a while to 'click'. When they do, you realise that this is a really beautiful album and an album in the truest sense of the word - it works best played for start to finish.

15- Bonnie 'Prince' Billy 'Lie Down In The Light'

A long way from 'I See A Darkness'. Oldham sounds happy and content and this is a gorgeous, uplifting country record that contains some stunning duets. A light touch and a joyful album.

14-12 coming soon.

Gig Dilemma

Have now got an absolutely awful gig dilemma.

I have tickets for Micah P Hinson at The Scala on November 6th, supported by Retribution Gospel Choir. Was very much looking forward to it, but now I find that Damien Jurado is playing the Union Chapel on the same night and.....The Sleeping Years are supporting.

Have seen Micah a few times but none since the new LP (which I love), have never seen DJ but would like to and have never seen TSY but am absolutely desperate to. Plus Union Chapel is my favourite venue.

Its a nightmare! Any advice?

Damien Jurado 'Caught In The Trees'

Damien Jurado has been making intelligent singer-songwriter records for over ten years now without ever really breaking through in the way Bon Iver did this year. He is superb at affecting acoustic ballads ('Medication') and can do powerful rockier stuff ('I Break Chairs', 'Texas To Ohio') but when he sticks to the middle ground, as he has done on his last couple of albums, he can get a little lost and sound like 'just another Americana singer'.

This album is a slight change of direction and is his best since 2003's 'Where Shall You Take Me'. Much more of a band recording than recent efforts, both Eric Fisher and Jenna Conrad, who adds harmonies throughout, were heavily involved. He also mixes acoustic and electric guitars to excellent effect, allowing the songs to sound far more energetic than previously. Opener 'Gillian Was A Horse' is upbeat and extremely catchy with it's 'I'm no lie detector/ He's no bullshitter' hook and 'Go First' takes an introspective lyric and turns it into an almost anthemic song.

Fans of old-school Jurado will probably turn to 'Last Rights', a really gorgeous ballad with a nagging melody and  'Best Dress', a lovely country sing-along to start with, but also featuring some driving electric guitar as the song builds. This is a feature of the record, Jurado keeps the storytelling and touching lyrics of previous albums but 'Caught In The Trees' has an added energy and vibrancy. This may win him a lot of new fans.

7.5

['Caught In The Trees' is out now on import from Secretly Canadian and out in the UK on 27/10]

new Damien Jurado song/record

Just a quick post to say that Damien Jurado has a new LP out in September on Secretly Canadian. Its called 'Caught In The Trees'.

I've been a bit disappointed with Jurado's last two albums and for me at least, he has never again hit the heights of 2002's 'Where Shall You Take Me' which mixed sweet country ballads with lo-fi rock, such as the splendidly addictive 'Texas To Ohio'. It should also be mentioned that Jurado wrote 'Medication' which is possibly the saddest song TracksandGigs has ever heard.

No doubt Jurado is an excellent and highly intelligent songwriter and from the sound of 'Gillian Was A Horse' which is streaming on his myspace site now ( www.myspace.com/damienjurado ), this record may be a stunning return to form. Upbeat, fresh and with great harmony vocals from Jenna Conrad, this is the best thing we've heard from DJ for a while.

'Caught In The Trees' will most likely (i.e - I'm guessing) be available to pre-order through Secretly Canadian sometime soon (vague). And knowing those friendly folk, there will more than likely be some kind of 'buy the album early, get a free download link' arrangement. So, if there is, you should all do that. In fact, don't listen to the new song at Myspace, listen to it here:-
http://www.scjag.com/mp3/sc/gillianwasahorse.mp3
We've got to support these indie labels folks.