04 December 2015 - 0 Comments

Get excited Auckland. The mighty Kurt Vile and The Violators will play a headline show at Auckland’s St James Theatre on 12 January. This is the only chance for fans to see Kurt Vile with his full band on this tour, with his solo dates in Wellington and Dunedin already sold out.

Kurt visits New Zealand hot on the heels of his glorious new album B’lieve I’m Goin Down… , just named #19 in Rolling Stone’s top 50 albums of 2015.

As kindred spirit Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth wrote in her artist biography for Kurt’s new album, “Kurt does his own myth making; a boy/man with an old soul voice in the age of digital everything becoming something else, which is why this focused, brilliantly clear and seemingly candid record is a breath of fresh air…. a handshake across the country, east to west coast, thru the dustbowl history (“valley of ashes”) of woody honest strait forward talk guthrie, and a cali canyon dead still night floating in a nearly waterless landscape. The record is all air, weightless, bodyless, but grounded in convincing authenticity, in the best version of singer songwriter upcycling.”

As eponymous American Grantland magazine recently observed, “Kurt Vile frequently invokes Neil Young in conversation, as both a talisman and a role model. But the most authentic link between Vile and Young is the way in which they freely commingle pathos and goofiness in their songs, resulting in a tonal messiness that feels like real life.”

And as Pitchfork remarked in their Best New Music review: “As compelling as Vile’s words can be, much of the magic lies in his delivery. Like Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan, Vile’s singing voice has acquired an unstable accent of indeterminate origin that shifts to suit his musical decisions, rather than connecting to genre or region or even his own upbringing. Most often, he’s got a nasally twang unlike that of any other native Philadelphian, and it helps his low-key murmur cut through the woolly mid-tempo haze. That twang makes his music feel more grounded and conversational, and there’s also a bit of a “Hey, it’s me again” quality the first time you hear it on a new album, an aural watermark that never leaves you any doubt that you are listening to a Kurt Vile record.”

But what’s the live show like? According to reviewer Brandon Simnacher, Kurt’s show at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom “The performance was inspiring; the band showed mean chops, and Kurt’s presence was enchanting.”
 

Kurt Vile & The Violators
Tuesday 12 January | St James Theatre, Auckland
Tickets on sale at 9am on Monday 7 December via Ticketek

Kurt Vile (solo)
Wednesday 13 January | San Fran, Wellington | SOLD OUT
Thursday 14 January | Sherwood Hotel, Queenstown
Friday 15 January | Chicks Hotel,  Dunedin | SOLD OUT

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