Review Summary: A creature of habit walking the same muddy track.
2011 has been a big year for Kurt Vile. His full-length album,
Smoke Ring For My Halo, saw the sleepy-eyed lethargio wake up slightly and produce a set of fantastic songs. The
So Outta Reach EP, then, stems from - and sounds a great deal like - what came eight months before.
That's not to say it's totally derivative. In some ways, the EP expands on what ground was covered in
Smoke Ring. The songs here, especially
Laughing Stock and
The Creature are a little more rambling. The longer, denser blues soundscapes allow Vile to really explore what has become, essentially, his 'template'. He explores it very well. Take
Laughing Stock for example. Vile's snappy guitar a third of the way through is a perfect counterpoint to his lazy drawl (which is sounding more J Mascis by the day), and the end product is a deceptively diverse, swampy soup. The same goes for the majority of the EP.
Something else of note here is the Springsteen cover, which is always a good idea. Unless you're Manfred Mann. Then please don't. Vile takes on
Downbound Train, and does so pretty much note for note, albeit with his trademark melancholy added. He nails a fantastically appropriate double-solo (a separate one for the left and right channels. At least I think that's what's going on) and tackles the imposing beast of The Boss with no trouble.
Essentially, this EP is Vile's opportunity to tow the listener along the same path he introduced us to earlier this year, and remind us how great that is and how good he is at doing it. He knows this style of music well, and
So Outta Reach, for better or worse, cements him as its primary provider.
