Twenty-five years and 15 albums into a career that is especially remarkable in how infrequently it is remarked upon, Damien Jurado provides yet another quietly magnificent album. What's New, Tomboy? feels like a traveler finding new footing after a storm at sea. The second album after the death of longtime friend and producer Richard Swift, it follows last year's In the Shape of a Storm, a simple guitar-and-voice album recorded in just two hours of studio time. Tomboy is still spare, but features a few self-produced flourishes, helped along by multi-instrumentalist Josh Gordon, which sound very Swift-like. There's also "Ochoa," a tribute to Swift that features the sad and troubling chorus, "Far from me / But not for long."
One of Jurado's greatest strengths is his ability to express emotions, truths and transcendent moments through brief character studies. Like a minimalist graphic designer, he is able to scratch out a few stark lines that convey a complex idea with the emotional wallop of a two-hour melodrama. Eloquence and tragedy are his companions, as on "Fool Maria," when he sings, "We are fiction as it's written / The bleeding ink on paper / Quiet as an aeroplane / Before it hits the mountain / We are song / We are gone."
Damien Jurado deserves to be better recognized. But in rock music, the grand gesture, the plum opening slot for veteran superstars and the theme song for a buzz-worthy HBO show are the paths that trump a suitcase full of near-perfect folk songs dragged from town to town for a few decades. Do yourself a favour, though —, take a listen to what's in that suitcase. It's really worth the time.
(Mama Bird Recording Co.)One of Jurado's greatest strengths is his ability to express emotions, truths and transcendent moments through brief character studies. Like a minimalist graphic designer, he is able to scratch out a few stark lines that convey a complex idea with the emotional wallop of a two-hour melodrama. Eloquence and tragedy are his companions, as on "Fool Maria," when he sings, "We are fiction as it's written / The bleeding ink on paper / Quiet as an aeroplane / Before it hits the mountain / We are song / We are gone."
Damien Jurado deserves to be better recognized. But in rock music, the grand gesture, the plum opening slot for veteran superstars and the theme song for a buzz-worthy HBO show are the paths that trump a suitcase full of near-perfect folk songs dragged from town to town for a few decades. Do yourself a favour, though —, take a listen to what's in that suitcase. It's really worth the time.
