At times it may seem like he’s destined to remain on the periphery but What’s New, Tomboy? is one of his best albums and deserves better, confirming Damien Jurado to be an artist operating at the peak of his powers.
One of Jurado's greatest strengths is his ability to express emotions, truths and transcendent moments through brief character studies.
What’s New, Tomboy? is Jurado’s fifteenth album and finds the prolific Seattle native unsurprisingly in fine voice and form - rarely does anything in his extensive catalogue fall short of expectations.
Taken together, What's New, Tomboy? is another moving collection of American snapshots from the troubadour, if likely less memorable than his higher-contrast outings.
Taken as a whole, Tomboy is a success, but its short runtime and somewhat underdeveloped arrangements leave the impression that Jurado was more concerned with just getting this set of songs released, rather than making sure they expand his extensive catalog in a meaningful way.
It is sensitive and intimate, his soft tone and tender picking evoking the dreamy melancholy of Nick Drake on the lovely Fool Maria, with touches of Harvest-era Neil Young on Francine.
What’s New, Tomboy? is as much about mood, about the easy musical sunlight emanating from its quiet enigma, and many will find much to explore in its unforced lack of adornment.
1. First off...I haven't heard anything else from Jurado, or at least not in memory. I've heard of him from friends, a few of whom are avid fans. He has an enormous body of work; 18 albums in total. However, even my friends agree with me that this, his latest work, is not his best by any stretch.
2. "What's New, Tomboy?" is a painfully dull listen. The basic composition is, on paper, what you'd expect from an indie folk record: acoustic guitar strumming? Check. Mellow vocals, ... read more
This album have few songs, but it seems to have twenty.
It is not an incredible job, it can be classified as good, but also as boring.
Everything on this album is similar to everything, it seems to be a discarded project or a demo leaked on the internet
1 | Birds Tricked Into the Trees 2:14 | |
2 | Ochoa 3:10 | |
3 | Alice Hyatt 2:42 | |
4 | Arthur Aware 3:23 | |
5 | Francine 2:30 | |
6 | Fool Maria 4:14 | |
7 | When You Were Few 2:42 | |
8 | Sandra 2:42 | |
9 | The End of the Road 3:07 |
#64 | / | God Is In The TV |