Kurt Vile - Philadelphia’s been good to me

Kurt Vile has claimed that he treated this latest studio album, his ninth solo effort, as if it were his last. Given that his prodigious work ethic has always belied to the laid-back feel of his songwriting, it is hard to imagine that he is contemplating retirement, but if this were to be his last set of songs, there would be a pleasing sense of his formidable discography coming full circle. ‘Philadelphia’s been good to me’ is his love letter to his hometown, one that both aches with nostalgia and swells with affection for the city that has remained his home base for his entire career.

There is an amusing irony to the title of the languid, thoughtful ’99 BPM’; most of the record is typically easy-going in its pace, although ‘Chance to Bleed’ is a breezy rocker. Elsewhere, there is room for spacey experimentation (‘Red Room Dub’) and soft instrumentals (‘Piano for Sarah’). Key to the record, though, is not only the deceptive intricacy of Vile’s guitar playing, long a hallmark of his work, but the confidence in his vocals, which he wraps around his guitar lines with hitherto unheard verve. There is arguably a touch of self-indulgence to the ten-minute ‘99th song’, which is a dreamy, elliptical portrait of his day-to-day in Philly that brings to mind Gillian Welch’s ‘I Dream a Highway’. Just as well, then, that it’s the best song on ‘Philadelphia’s been good to me’. It certainly sounds that way.