Song Premiere: Damien Jurado - Silver Timothy

Local Music, KEXP Premiere, Song of the Day
11/18/2013
Jacob Webb
photo by Steve Gullick

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, premiered on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Silver Timothy” by Damien Jurado from the upcoming 2014 album Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son on Secretly Canadian.

Damien Jurado - Silver Timothy (MP3)

A Pacific Northwestern staple, Damien Jurado has served as one of the West Coast's most prolific and consistent songwriters over the last two decades, gracefully maturing and evolving in his craft with a consistency that few modern songwriters can match. A longtime Seattleite, Jurado's local reputation precedes him: Next month, Jurado will have released eleven studio albums (and even more EPs and other assorted releases) since 1995, all of which document the songwriter in a different place in his musical career. Although much of his songbook consists of guitar-and-vocals-only tunes, he's flirted with elements of lo-fi, chamber pop, field recordings, bossa nova, Americana, and indie rock - sometimes all within the same song. Well respected among his peers and a critical darling, Jurado is set to release his eleventh LP, Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son, next month. The album's announcement was accompanied by a characteristically brilliant essay from Jurado's sometimes-tourmate Josh Tillman (a.k.a. Father John Misty), in which Tillman notes that "if Jesus got born again. That’s what this album sounds like". His third consecutive record produced by Richard Swift, Brothers and Sisters picks up where 2012's Maraqopa left off, both sonically and thematically. "Silver Timothy", one of the five album tracks with "Silver" in the title, is a bossa nova-tinged track that floats in and out of Swift's melodically psychedelic atmosphere. "Go back down, don't touch the ground", whispers Jurado promptly before launching into a spacey breakdown that fills out the song's back half. Not unlike a more earthy take version of Tame Impala, "Silver Timothy" finds Jurado continuing to present himself as a songwriter who isn't constrained to guitars and confessions, and when his next album (probably) arrives 18 months from now, it will be even more interesting to see how the song and album fit into an already deep and diverse discography.

Damien Jurado hits the road next month in support of Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son and will stop in Seattle on January 17th at the Neptune, where he'll play a special album release show. Get more info and tickets about that all-ages gig here, keep up with Damien on his website and Facebook, and watch a trailer for Brothers and Sisters below.

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