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Don’t be surprised when Paul Curreri lurches at you like a Southern gothic balladeer, a red-handed Nick Cave character, on “Mantra,” the first track on The Velvet Rut. Named for the comfortable clutches that Charlottesville wraps residents in, Curreri’s new record is certainly one of comfort and routine—The Velvet Rut includes contributions from and lyrical nods to Curreri’s usual cast of raucous friends—but ritual and routine typically round the edges of musicians. Settled into a life of heavy songwriting, lighter touring, production duties and Devon (Sproule, his wife and fellow musician), Curreri seems undaunted and, at moments during this first track, nearly unhinged.
Who buried Paul? The gifted songwriter and producer adds a bit of gruff to the stuff from his new record, The Velvet Rut.
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Production experience for a variety of acts (including cohort Andy Friedman’s pleasantly acerbic Taken Man and tracks by sunny Britpop trio Don’t Move) has obviously affected Curreri’s sonic approach to his music, but also provided subtle lyrical accents. Curreri’s quickspit rhymes in “Loretta” (“libretta” and “silhouette,” “palometa” and “poinsettia”) are echoed in high whistles and handclapped backups before disintegrating into a delayed electric guitar. The style is pure Paul, but the tone is something dark and beastly sure of itself in a way that his previous records never quite broached.
Which is not to say that this is a departure. The title track and “Don’t Drink” are the sort of country-by-way-of-Django instrumentals that Curreri has always delivered so effortlessly. But “Don’t Drink” is capped with a richly harmonized, woozy “yeaaah” that bleeds into the staggered “aaahs” of “Where You Got Ain’t What You’re From,” and the buzz of “The Velvet Rut” blends beautifully with the minor chord shuffle of “A Song on Robbing.” That these two tracks are possibly the most accessible of Curreri’s career are no sign of a rut for the songwriter; rather, Curreri seems to encounter more treasure the deeper he digs himself into the city.
