Welcome to Maraqopa, population 2. Damien Jurado's newest collaboration with producer Richard Swift drops us into a brutal and benevolent landscape. The bold strokes and new turns the pair made with 2010's Saint Bartlett are taken even further. He throws open the gate on his oft insular dirges and allows them do some real wilding out in the canyon. In Maraqopa, the vistas are miles-wide; the action is more dynamic; the close-ups sweaty and snarling. The strummed desert blues that begin "Nothing is the News" quickly bursts open into an Eddie Hazel-worthy supernova shred session, all of it swirling in tinny-psych and Echoplex'd howls. We've never heard anything like this from Jurado. Fifteen years into his remarkable career, and he continues to blossom. Jurado and Swift establish themselves not only as inventive, trusting collaborators, but as one another's spirit animals in American outsider songcraft --lone wolves in black sheep's clothing. Swift is the Ennio Morricone to Jurado's Sergio Leone. At Swift's National Freedom studios, the live-to-tape ethos allowed these songs to expand and retract like a great beast's breath. Every in-the-moment bell and whistle here is hung with a natural, casual care. And from this, each song offers up its own unique gift: the enchanting children's choir that echoes each line of Jurado's lament for innocence lost on "Life Away from the Garden"; the breezy bossa nova that begins "This Time Next Year" and rises as effortless as a smoke cloud into high-noon showdown pop; "Reel to Reel"'s wobbly, Spector-symphony and its meta themes; the wonderful falsetto vocal work Jurado pulls from himself on "Museum of Flight." The Seattle Times recently called Jurado "Seattle's folk-boom godfather," a praising recognition to be sure. But also a title Jurado might not yet be ready to accept. That's a title for someone who has settled. With each visit to National Freedom, Jurado is exploring, taking risks. He's not only freeing his songs. The gate is opened wide to allow us all into his once-isolated musical universe. One gets the sense he's just now hitting his stride. 成长于西雅图的Damien Jurado，在美国一脉相承、渊远流长的 Singer/Songwriter乐派中是近年来少数在乐评、乐迷两端都深获爱戴的杰出歌者。 八零年代末期打转于西雅图本地的音乐场景之间，曾经组过名为Coolidge的庞克乐队，这支乐队没能赶上Grunge风潮就先行解散，但除了Damien Jurado日后自立门户闯出一片天地之外，当时乐队里的成员David Bazan也在十几年后成了美国当红另类团体Pedro the Lion的主脑人物。 Nick Drake对于Damien Jurado的影响可在他们一样善感的唱腔与清爽明亮的吉他指法间找到参考点，而除了来自大西洋对岸的音乐启蒙，美国本土的几张音乐神主牌如Bob Dylan、Lou Reed或Neil Young也都是评论Damien Jurado的音乐时经常被提起的名字。至于已经过世的同辈歌手Elliott Smith，或是同厂的优质民谣团体Iron and Wine也都在Damien Jurado的创作历程中扮演着亦师亦友的重要角色。 经过同样来自西雅图的乐团Sunny Day Real Estate的主唱引荐，Damien Jurado于九零年代末期加盟Sub Pop展开了精彩的创作生涯，直至零三年才离开Sub Pop转投Secretly Canadian厂下。 整张专辑中，艺术家会带你进入到他们不为人知的充满感情的氛围世界。他们将用歌声表达老友，亲情，争吵的爱妻，以及复杂的感情纠葛环绕在你独自一人静谧的环境中，更能再吵杂的人群中依旧可以领略他的味道。他会如影随从的跟着你，永远。 简约的吉他拨弹、带点淡淡忧愁的民谣曲调，Damien Jurado在这张作品里成功再现了Nick Drake留给乐迷的音乐宝藏，一种心旷神怡的自然，一种雨过天晴的洒脱。 Damien Jurado透过温暖的歌声诉说着生活中的微小事物，适时加入的钢弦吉他，巧妙的切分拍，破音开的恰到好处的电颤琴。整张专辑的聆听过程带给听者的是一趟清新醇美的旅程，即使部分歌曲陷溺于较为孱弱的幽暗因子，然而Damien Jurado仍能使听者在不远处看到希望，继续向前迈进。