Singer/songwriter Kurt Vile has had an alternative style to music ever since he started producing it in 2003. In 2005 he paired himself with Adam Granduciel and the duo created the band The War on Drugs. Together, the two would go on to create the album Wagonwheel Blues in 2008. Later that year Vile would create his first solo album Constant Hitmaker and would eventually leave The War on Drugs.
Since his departure from The War on Drugs, Vile has released around 16 EP's and eight studio albums. Courtney Barnett partnered with him on his last album Lotta Sea Lice and it was a giant hit among listeners of theirs. Their combined voices made for an excellent album and each song left the listener eager to hear more. To satisfy the ears of their listeners, Vile released a teaser track "Loading Zones" in August of this year in order to promote his eighth studio album Bottle It In. The album was finally released earlier this month and fans are eating it up.
Bottle It In is littered with classic folk/country elements, mixed with psych-rock influences. There were so many great tracks on this album they overshadow the subordinate ones like "One Trick Ponies" and "Rollin With the Flow". These cliché barnyard country sounding tracks are bittersweet to listen to because they both include a few interesting themes, but continue a repetitive rhythm that's cringy to listen to. "One Trick Ponies" include really cool backing vocals from someone that sounds like they were featured on Beck's album One Foot In the Grave, while "Rollin With the Flow" has great lyrical ideas but sounds like an ideal sad cowboy song.
The next track "Check Baby" has a really fat synth introduction and slides into a really catchy deep sounding guitar riff. This track took me by surprise because I didn't know that this was the musical direction Vile was going to take, however, I was so happy that he took that step in a different direction. Due to the many "yip(s)!","woo(s)!" and guitar solos, this track sounded like it was genuinely fun to play and record in the studio.
"Bottle It In" follows "Check Baby" by being similar in time length, however it contrasts by being a more slow-paced track about bottling up one's emotions. "Don't tell them you that you love them, for your own sake you just bottle it in." I enjoyed the piano in this track and also how the instruments started to build off one another towards the end of the track. Together they overtake the lyrics and the result sounds trippy and blissful.
"Mutinies" had really light sounding guitar work throughout the track and it was immediately appealing to audiences due to the guitar riff. Towards the end of the song, it started to get trippy in a similar aspect to that of "Bottle It In". This reoccurring trippy theme sounded great because it's not broadcasted or plastered all over this album but subtly introduced during certain songs.
Following "Mutines", "Come Again" featured female guest vocals which sound extraordinary combined with Vile's voice during the chorus. This track also used the banjo which created a catchy toe-tapping beat and rhythm that made this song stand out on the album.
The songs "Hysteria" and "Cold Was the Wind" both sounded like they were directly taken out of Lotta Sea Lice. Themes of that album were awesome to hear again and I'm glad that Vile didn't go overboard with that certain style because it would have gotten redundant over time.
"Skinny Mini" was the longest track on this album and also startled the shit out of me. The guitar work in this track can be pretty redundant with the same looping pattern, and just as the listener phases out of the song, Vile screams the lyrics "Yeah, fuck!" The song eventually ends and phases into "(Bottle Back)" which is a combination of different electric noises and the background beat to the track "Bottle It In". Somehow, this song plays perfectly into the first track of the album "Loading Zones" and makes the entire project easy to listen to on repeat. "Loading Zones", "Yeah Bones", and "Bassackwards" were some of the most upbeat songs on this album and also the most popular.
I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed "Bottle It In". I didn't think that Vile would combine different musical elements and genres so effectively and I am so pleased with how this album came out. The only part I didn't understand about the album was the artwork. I felt as if the artwork should have used more psyche ideas rather than place Kurt posing with his guitar on an old looking record. Needless to say, this album received an 8.5 out of 10 and I would certainly buy this album on vinyl.
