Damien Jurado
On My Way to Absence
Secretly Canadian
2005
Rating: 6.5 missing persons out of 10
I’m assuming that since this is the sixth proper album (plus numerous EPs and whatnot) from Damien Jurado, you’re already familiar with his music and have probably already made up your mind as to whether you like the guy or not. Me, I’m a pretty big fan, never miss a chance to see that gentle giant play a live show if I can help it, and love pretty much every album he’s put out. This is no exception; and while not the strongest material he’s released, it still stands up as a fine record. In some ways it resembles the “rock” album he did a couple of years back called “I Break Chairs” with the band Gathered in Song, but there are also a few acoustic dirges scattered in there (these always end up being my favorites of his catalog). In typical Jurado fashion, there’s a duet with Rosie Thomas, but there are also a couple of tracks where Eric Bachman of Crooked Fingers/Archers of Loaf lends a helping hand and random other indie-music glitterati. I would certainly recommend this to fans and most other folks wouldn’t be disappointed either…but if you’re looking for a good starting point on this fine singer-songwriter check out “Rehearsals for Departure”, one of my favorite records of all time. Still, even a “B” album by Jurado is better than pretty much everyone else’s “A” game.
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