Kurt Vile

Watch My Moves

If you want to set the tone for a relaxing weekend or road trip, give this album a spin. It’s uncomplicated and has the easy-breezy, lo-fi vibe that Kurt Vile has mastered. Fans won’t find any surprises in the 15 tracks on Watch My Moves—Vile’s ninth LP—but he's not really the kind of artist who we expect will throw us a curveball. And that is part of the allure. His style is the lager of indie rock—it goes down easy and is refreshing. Make no mistake, the lyrics are not all rainbows and lollipops. There is an undertone of anxiety and angst, like in “Say the Word,” with its refrain about holding onto sanity in a world of chaos. The earworm of the collection is the first track, “Goin on a Plane Today.” It’s a playful piano tune that could almost be a children’s song. I love the lyrics “Listening to ‘Heart of Gold’/Gonna open up for Neil Young/Man, life can sure be fun/Imagine if I knew this when I was young.” Dreams really can come true.