Damien Jurado
Visions of Us on the Land
SECRETLY CANADIAN
6/10
Since he released his first EP on Sub Pop in 1995, Damien Jurado has been one of most interesting—and perhaps overlooked—songwriters in the US. This record, his twelfth, is no different. Consisting of seventeen tracks, Visions of Us on the Land often comes across as a collection of unfinished thoughts—the kind that don’t resolve themselves and end up lingering in your head for days. “QUCHINA” is a meandering road song that doesn’t know if it’s coming or going, “Cinco de Tomorrow” is a fragile tune that sees Jurado’s delicate vocals drift over a swathe of lo-fi melody, and “Orphans in the Key of E” is a plaintive country-folk lament very much in keeping with the classic American songwriting tradition. It all amounts to a headful of beautiful but confusing and conflicting emotions that leave you full of sorrow while pondering memories you previously didn’t possess.
