Damien Jurado - Maraqopa (2012)

Artist...............: Damien Jurado
Album................: Maraqopa
Genre................: Indie Rock
Source...............: Cd
Year.................: 2012
Ripper...............: Exact Audio Copy
Codec................: FLAC
Information..........: TntVillage
Covers...............: Front
Total Size...........: 277 Mb


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Seattle singer/songwriter Damien Jurado is one of the better examples of the somewhat invisible but very

real trend of gentle folk musicians who started out in hardcore bands. Along with Mark Thousands (whose

work in Youth of Today gave way to a hushed solo career), Dan Littleton (the Hated to Ida), and even Ian

MacKaye (Minor Threat and Fugazi eventually mellowing into the Evens), Jurado's punk past was held in stark

contrast to the spare folk dirges that marked the beginnings of his solo career in the late '90s. While

hardcore and indie folk might represent two extremes, the musicians who are versed in the ethos of punk

tend to have a more imaginative approach to their folk leanings than those who come up in the sleepy

coffeehouse scenes. Be it production, instrumentation, or political lyrical undertones, there's a slightly

different perspective that's always under the surface. This has always been the case with Jurado, whose

fragile voice and stoic playing have always just barely hidden themes of pain and longing more aggressive

than helpless. With his tenth studio outing, Maraqopa, Jurado offers his most colorful and nuanced set of

songs yet, and while they're a far cry from hardcore, they wander into places well removed -- and far more

interesting -- than his earlier wounded troubador role. Beginning with the dusty road psychedelia of

"Nothing Is the News," the album takes on a vividly live feel. Meandering lead guitars and bristling drums

back up Jurado's ghostly multi-tracked vocal arrangements, sounding like a modern take on '70s British

folk-rock. Some of his earlier work could fall under the Americana bracket, but the far-out production of

Richard Swift, reprising the collaboration he and Jurado began on 2010's Saint Bartlett, pushes the songs

to their least predictable limits. Echoplex-treated anguished screams, organ swells, and the shakingly

creepy children's chorus backing up every line of "Life Away from the Garden" are perhaps the opposite of

typically cloying Americana. Maraqopa reaches its peak on the Phil Spector-ish "Reel to Reel." The lush

production packs in dozens of disjointed sounds yet remains wide open, offering ample room for Jurado to

deliver earnestly beautiful lines to his subject: a bedroom rock star offering the narrator "The greatest

songs I'll ever hear from a band you started in your mind." It's a touchingly naked moment, and ironically,

happening in one of the busiest arrangements on the album. Painting from a broad palette of sounds and

singing from a well of strong melodies, the record works best as a whole piece, revealing new elements and

deeper dynamics with subsequent listens. While Jurado's life as an angry young punk may not be apparent

from his work on Maraqopa, what can be heard vividly is a bold progression that encapsulates all the phases

that came before it and results in his most adventurous and fulfilling work to date.




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Tracklist
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01. Nothing Is In The News
02. Life Away From The Garden
03. Maraqopa
04. This Time Next Year
05. Reel To Reel
06. Working Titles
07. Everyone A Star
08. So On, Nevada
09. Museum Of Flight
10. Mountains Still Asleep