More about: Damien Jurado

If the albums Damien Jurado made with the late Richard Swift between 2012 and 2016 are to be considered an emphatic trilogy of masterfully produced records, then the following trio of subdued musings can be considered as the calm after the storm. What’s New, Tomboy? is Jurado’s fifteenth album and finds the prolific Seattle native unsurprisingly in fine voice and form - rarely does anything in his extensive catalogue fall short of expectations.

In a career now entering its third decade, this record was produced by Jurado himself and its ten songs clock in at just under half an hour, with not a second wasted. Devoid of the luscious wall of sound production on some of his more recent outputs, the instrumentation is minimal; guitar, bass, unimposing drum machines and subtle organ. This permits the most important instrument to flourish - Jurado’s voice. Sometimes frail, sometimes affirming, sometimes wry, and usually a threadbare mix of all those sentiments.

It could be forgiven on first listen that tracks like the ghostly ‘Fool Maria’ wash over you. Dig deeper and you’ll realise this is an artist operating at the peak of his powers. He sings of his, “mind being a tired earthquake, while my thoughts were breaking dishes,” and questioning his place before finding solace, “I’m only living sentences, that were long before I got here.” On the musically more foregrounded ‘When You Were Few’, the introduction of mellotron and ascending harpsichord-like motifs echo Odessey and Oracle, had The Zombies’ magnum opus been delivered as a solo effort and constructed in a bedroom.

In ‘The End of the Road’, Jurado offers emotional support, “there will be times when you face the storm, afraid and uncertain at which way is home, I’ll be there to guide you.” Although delivered as a candid and openly confessional love song, in current times, universal themes such as these can offer some comfort and assurance. Jurado himself has stopped questioning the elusive nature of his craft, “I don’t think I’ll ever know what my songs are telling me,” Jurado admits. "I usually have other people tell me what my songs are saying… I’m always trying to guess what my songs are telling me, like a translator, but then someone comes along who knows the language, and they translate it back to me.”

Throughout his career there is a definite unintentional formula that weaves into his songwriting and similarities can be found on all of his fifteen records - like familiar faces showing up on your doorstep, each time in a different attire. On What’s New, Tomboy? the lack of adornment is a most welcome guise.  

What’s New, Tomboy? is out now via LOOSE.

More about: Damien Jurado