Listen To Kurt Vile’s New Single, ‘Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)’
‘(watch my moves)’ is out April 15 via Verve Records.
Acclaimed musician, songwriter, and producer Kurt Vile has released a new song and accompanying video, “Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone).”
On the track, Vile croons over his now-signature rambling guitar lines, with a steady drum groove helping to lead the way. In his typical cool, relaxed style, Vile sings, “I’ve been around, but now I’m gone,” showing off a brand new falsetto that’s sure to delight fans.
The song is the latest unveiled from Vile’s highly-anticipated new album, (watch my moves), which will be released April 15 on Verve Records—his first in partnership with the label. Recorded mainly at OKV Central—Vile’s newly created home studio in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia—(watch my moves) was self-produced along with help from longtime collaborator Rob Schnapf (Richard Thompson, Elliott Smith). “When Waylon Jennings became an outlaw country artist, he liked to record at Hillbilly Central, which was Tompall Glaser’s studio,” Vile shares. “OKV Central is my version of that in Mount Airy. I’ve come into my own here, and at the same time I’m getting back to my home-recording roots.”
The new song follows the release of two additional album tracks: “Hey Like a Child” and lead single, “Like Exploding Stones,” of which NPR Music praises, “Listening to Kurt Vile’s ‘Like Exploding Stones’…is like falling down the rabbit-hole. Through the song, you’re treated to the surrealistic, psychedelic mind and sounds of his trippy universe…It’s magical and meditative.” Pitchfork declares, “Vile’s limitless charm and languid drawl have a way of making even the heaviest affliction seem bearable, if not a low-key hoot.”
Across the record—which includes 14 originals as well as a version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Wages of Sin,” Vile pulls his talents in unexpected directions. The result is a vibrant yet meditative album propelled by his trademark laid-back charm and curious spirit. Every lyric has been chiseled down into an aphorism, every bloom of distorted guitar or murmuring synth helping create that “fried” pop. “It’s about songwriting. It’s about lyrics. It’s about being the master of all domains in the music,” Vile says. “I’m always thinking about catchy music, even though it’s fried, or sizzled, out. It’s my own version of a classic thing—it’s moving forward and backward at the same time.”
