Listening to the music of Kurt Vile and the Violators is a lot like taking a trip without a clear destination in mind. The hazy-voiced lead singer has been compared to Neil Young, and for good reason—his meandering tracks have similar brands of folk and rock, and the lyrics cover themes of self-discovery and introspection that hearken to Young’s earlier albums. Incorporating fuzzy, lo-fi guitar alongside the occasional keyboard or synthesizer, Vile both complicates and celebrates the folk standards on which he has built his career.
Related stories
McGill/McHale Trio
The McGill/McHale Trio formed in 2014 when brothers Anthony and Demarre McGill—clarinetist and flutist, respectively—were joined by pianist Michael McHale to perform at Bowling Green University in Ohio. Since then, the acclaimed artists—Anthony was the New York Philharmonic’s first Black principal musician and a social activist who won the Avery Fisher Prize in 2020—have combined […]
Author Event: Kelsey Johnson
If gazing into the boundless night sky prompts existential questions—“Where does it all come from? What does it all mean?”—you’ll want to open UVA Astronomy Professor Kelsey Johnson’s latest book. In Into the Unknown: The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos, Johnson doesn’t necessarily answer all the cosmic quandaries that confound us, but […]
Brookhouse
Built on a base of rock, Latin jazz, and Americana music, Richmond’s Brookhouse blends a bilingual body of work carried by driving rhythms and sultry strings. Featuring a mix of acoustic and electric songs, English and Spanish lyrics, and earnest, mysterious songwriting, the band celebrates a mission to demonstrate that we all contain multitudes. See […]
