“Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)” follows along from Vile’s two previous singles “Like Exploding Stones” and “Hey Like A Child”. The two prior releases felt like a warm and welcome return to some of the sonic landscapes that Vile inhabited on his 2013 album Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze, and this gorgeously wistful new tune hammers home that same feeling once again. Led by a warm analogue synth, a lethargic guitar arpeggio and shimmering slide guitar, Vile paints a picture of a laid back yet melancholy day spent on a long walk.

(watch my moves) was recorded largely at Vile’s newly built studio OKV Central in the Mount Airy neighbourhood of Philadelphia, and produced alongside long-time collaborator Rob Schnapf, who previously worked with artists such as Elliott Smith. Vile said of the new opened studio, according to a press release: “When Waylon Jennings became an outlaw country artist, he liked to record at Hillbilly Central, which was Tompall Glaser’s studio… 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.”

Vile’s upcoming album will feature fourteen tracks, including a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Wages of Sin”. A recent press release describes the album as: “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.” A complete track list can be viewed down below.

1). Goin on a Plane Today
2). Flyin (like a fast train)
3). Palace of OKV in Reverse
4). Like Exploding Stones
5). Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)
6). Hey Like a Child
7). Jesus on a Wire
8). Fo Sho
9). Cool Water
10). Chazzy Don’t Mind
11). (shiny things)
12). Say the Word
13). Wages of Sin
14). kurt runner
15). Stuffed Leopard

Vile will also be embarking on an extensive US tour in celebration of the release of (watch my moves), and will also be embarking on a European run shortly after. All ticket information can be viewed here.

Speaking on social media, Vile said of the song: “ ‘Hey Like A Child’ is a love song. Wishing I could stretch it all the way across the world right now. Love vibrations to all those who are suffering. Reach for your hand through the sun through the sun through the sun. “It’s gonna take a lot of love to change the way things are.”

The tune follows on from Vile’s first single from the album “Like Exploding Stones”, a feverish psychedelic song that has garnered praise from fans and critics alike, with NPR saying: “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” and Pitchfork saying: “Vile’s limitless charm and languid drawl have a way of making even the heaviest affliction seem bearable, if not a low-key hoot.”

(watch my moves) was recorded mainly at Vile’s newly built studio OKV Central in the Mount Airy neighbourhood of Philadelphia, and produced alongside long-time collaborator Rob Schnapf, who previously worked with artists such as Elliott Smith. Vile said of the new opened studio, according to a press release: “When Waylon Jennings became an outlaw country artist, he liked to record at Hillbilly Central, which was Tompall Glaser’s studio… 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.”

Vile’s upcoming album will feature fourteen tracks, including a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Wages of Sin”. A recent press release describes the album as: “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.” A complete track list can be viewed down below.

1). Goin on a Plane Today
2). Flyin (like a fast train)
3). Palace of OKV in Reverse
4). Like Exploding Stones
5). Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)
6). Hey Like a Child
7). Jesus on a Wire
8). Fo Sho
9). Cool Water
10). Chazzy Don’t Mind
11). (shiny things)
12). Say the Word
13). Wages of Sin
14). kurt runner
15). Stuffed Leopard

Vile will also be embarking on an extensive US tour in celebration of the release of (watch my moves), and will also be embarking on a European run shortly after. All ticket information can be viewed here.

“Like Exploding Stones” is a slow burner, clocking in at around seven and a half minutes, and carries with it that familiar, gentle melancholy that oozes from Vile’s sound, in particularly harkening back to 2013’s Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze with its shimmering backing synths and lethargic, effects-laden guitar parts. Vile is a master of crafting songs that inhabit an emotional landscape that is never overtly depressing, but is perhaps best described as “wistful”, sometimes featuring lyrics that deal with darker subjects such as dissociation and anxiety, but from an “I guess that’s how life is sometimes” angle rather than a morose, hopeless one.

(watch my moves) will be Vile’s first full-length album since 2018’s Bottle It In, and his first new collection of songs since 2020’s Speed, Sound, Lonely KV, which featured two original tunes entitled “Dandelion” and “Pearls”, as well as a cover of Cowboy Jack Clements’ “Gone Girl”, and perhaps most importantly, covers of “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” and “How Lucky” by the late, great American singer-songwriter John Prine, to whom the E.P. is dedicated. Prine himself features on “How Lucky”, a truly classic cut from his discography. You can listen to the song at the link below.

The upcoming album was produced at Vile’s new home studio “OKV Central” with the help of long-time collaborator Rob Schnapf, and the addition of his band mates from The Violators, as well as special guests Chastity Belt, Cate Le Bon and percussionist Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint. Vile said of the upcoming record, according to a press release: “It’s about songwriting. It’s about lyrics. It’s about being the master of all domains in the music,” he 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.”

The track list, which includes fourteen original songs and a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Wages of Sin” can be seen down below.

1). Goin on a Plane Today
2). Flyin (like a fast train)
3). Palace of OKV in Reverse
4). Like Exploding Stones
5). Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)
6). Hey Like a Child
7). Jesus on a Wire
8). Fo Sho
9). Cool Water
10). Chazzy Don’t Mind
11). (shiny things)
12). Say the Word
13). Wages of Sin
14). kurt runner
15). Stuffed Leopard

The European leg of Vile’s tour commences on August 26^th in London. Tickets can be purchased here, and you can view the UK dates down below.

26/08/2022- All Points East Festival- London
27/08- Forum- Bath
28/08- Stylus- Leeds
29/08- QMU- Glasgow
30/08- Vicar Street- Dublin
02/09- Moseley Folk & Arts Festival- Birmingham
03/09- Manchester Psych Fest- Manchester
04/09- End of the Road Festival- Dorset

Bottle It In – out October 12th via Matador Records

Bottle It In will be Vile’s first solo outing since 2015’s b’lieve i’m goin down…, which garnered critical acclaim for its delicate, Neil Young-style country approach. Most of the album was made at Connecticut’s Tarquin Studios with producer Peter Katis, but some tracks were cut with Shawn Everett (who also worked with Vile’s ex-band The War On Drugs) at LA’s The Beer Hole.

In a statement, Vile explained that much of the writing was done amidst the stresses and tedium of travel. “For a while I was terrified of flying, so I would be listening to whatever country songs I was obsessed with. I’d have George Jones blasting in my ears. Or, I would be reading something about country music. Or, I would start writing songs in that flash of being afraid, being swallowed by life”, he said.

“I’m up there on a plane drinking wine because like everybody else I’m afraid to die. And I wrote ‘Hysteria’ up there. It’s like that moment on the airplane,” Vile said. “When you’re on your way somewhere and you have that burst of panic. When you’re terrified of dying, that’s when you want people to know you love them.”

See the tracklist below:

1. Loading Zones
2. Hysteria
3. Yeah Bones
4. Bassackwards
5. One Trick Ponies
6. Rollin With The Flow
7. Check Baby
8. Bottle It In
9. Mutinies
10. Come Again
11. Cold Was The Wind
12. Skinny Mini
13. (bottle back)

Ahead of the album’s release, Vile released the fourth track, ‘Bassackwards’, as a lead single. Built on a semi-psychedelic backing of humming backwards guitar, steady drums and treble-heavy bass, Vile sings a country-tinged acoustic number filled with West Coast imagery of sun, beaches and the bay. See the track below: