Big Jesus’s Spencer Ussery Has a Vile Selection for His Fave Song You’ve Never Heard
And, who knows, maybe it'll help him meet his muse
Big Jesus singer/bassist Spencer Ussery tells BlastEcho his favorite song you’ve never heard:
Kurt Vile, for years, had been a name I’d seen around here and there. A select number of friends would mention his name every once in a while, but I just never sat down to check out his music until about three or four years ago. I had a roommate who brought home Vile’s record Smoke Ring For My Halo and put it on the record player. It was that one listen of that album that sold me on Kurt Vile. I think it may have been because I was essentially being subjected to it and it didn’t take any effort from me to hear his music.
And If You Like This, You'll Love...
Kurt’s brand of carefree, easy-going slacker folk just slides right along. The track “Feel My Pain” from the EP It’s a Big World Out There (And I Am Scared) is certainly no exception. Vile has been quoted as saying “[The song is a] stripped-down, ominous folk number, exceptionally meticulous in its finger-picked arrangement…[it] has since become a favorite of mine for all its rawness.” The track has a surprising amount of complexity considering how minimal the instrumentation is. Vile’s chord progressions don’t seem to follow any sort of convention here; chords only seem to change when they feel just right to him. Through these changes, his lazy and soft-spoken melody carries lyrics quite personal and conversational in nature. He begs his subject, “babe,” to share in his pains as he commits to do the same for them. I’ve grown to really love Kurt Vile’s approach to lyrics; they’re straightforward, personable and simple. I hope to meet Kurt Vile some day, he seems like a genuinely cool dude.
For more on Big Jesus, check out: bigjesus.net
0 comments