Damien Jurado

Item: On My Way to Absence
Author: Idy

On My Way to Absence

(2005)

Reviewed by Idy

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Label Secretly CanadianSomething for Nothing #61July 2005

folk rock indie rock singer-songwriter

due to trying to get a review of this album in at the last minute, i'm doing the unthinkable--listening to a damien jurado album in the daytime. i've always thought a distinct and important aspect of damien's music was that it had that sound that make it listenable exclusively at night. there's a dark, sort of mysterious quality to the songs and the arrangements that makes it best listened to in the nighttime. there's a new version of "simple hello" on this album, which is nice, as that's always been one of my favorite songs (though i think i like the original recording just slightly better). there are eleven other songs, too--and they're all good. i'd say that this may be damien's most consistent record yet. all of the songs are really solid and well written. the only complaint i have is the semi-distorted vocals on "i am the mountain"--that effect is best left to industrial music. most of the songs are full band arrangements, by the same line-up as on "i break chairs", so i'm not sure why this is credited to damien rather than gathered in song. perhaps they gave up on that idea. regardless, this is a very good record that you should buy--at least if you're into dark folk-based rock music.

incidentally, damien has released an awful lot of records in the last year and a half. there was another full length on secretly canadian, an ep on the same label, an ep on some european label, the demos lp on burnt toast, and a tour-only cd-r of outtakes--plus this one. slow down, man.