An album full of chaotic dreaminess

Delivering a delightfully dreamy record, Kurt Vile presents his recent album release, (watch my moves). The record at times finds itself launched into a frenzy of sounds mixed with gentle vocals, and with a flip of a switch, it falls into perfectly satisfying musical synchronization. 

The former The War on Drugs lead guitarist continues his hefty solo career, releasing his 9th studio album, (watch my moves), following his 2018 release Bottle It In. Vile’s discography is a vastly decorated list of EPs, singles and albums. With a little help from his friends Jesse Trbovich, Rob Laakso and Kyle Spence, they join Vile on stage and in the studio as his ever-talented band.

In controlled chaos “Flyin (Like a Fast Train)” features a chaotic mixture of haphazard twangy guitar splashing all over a steady percussion. This track is a picture-perfect indie film opening title song. One can almost picture the beginning of a new Napoleon Dynamite-style film. Lyrically, the song also takes on a very unsteady view of one’s life that seems to be moving fast to grasp what’s going on, much like the seemingly unsteady electric guitar.  

“Like Exploding Stones” is a single off the record that talks about how the ping pong effect of stress and other thoughts plague the mind. Viles speaks to Apple Music stating that this sound mostly embodied the effects of stress and something that weighs heavy on the mind. Unlike “Flyin (Like a Fast Train),” “Like Exploding Stones” features a much tighter musical composition. Almost sounding like a later indie version of Fleetwood Mac, the instrumentation throughout the song is beautifully balanced, and even though the subject is stressed, the track is quite soothing to listen to.

Diving into a lush dreamy soundscape, “Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)” creates a brilliant and rich soundscape as the instruments all marinate together. The one aspect of the song that throws off the dreamy vibe, is the vocals oddly enough. Throughout the record so far, vocally it has all blended harmoniously. For this track, some parts seem to be purposefully sung off-key, and the falsetto notes are a bit shaky. Nonetheless, this is a beautifully calming track to enjoy.

Picking up the pace, “Hey Like a child” brings up the tempo and feeling. Lighting up the mood, the track comes in with a bright percussion and electric guitar that carries to the end of the song. Vile’s vocals once again seem to melt within the music allowing for it all to feel like it is meant to be on hear.

Closing out the track, “Stuffed Leopard” strips everything back down to basics. This track features only a light percussion and a rich acoustic, accompanied by moments of tasteful twangy electric guitar. The track is a beautiful slow and calming lullaby that seems to perfectly bring an already relaxing album to a close.

Kurt Vile struts his stuff on (watch my moves), giving fans a wonderful album that seems to soothe the heart and mind.