sore eros & kurt vile: jamaica plain

Kurt Vile and Robert Robinson were introduced to each other back in 2001 by a mutual friend, and by the following year they had begun recording these recently-unearthed and previously-unreleased tracks. Robinson is a past member of The Violators, has toured in Ariel Pink's band, but is best known for his own outfit, Sore Eros. The EP's title-track takes its name from Boston, Massachusetts, where it was recorded. This unhurried and meandering track, that opens with its simple finger-picked melody on acoustic guitar, is a melancholic evocation of a pastoral idyll enhanced by the solely analog production and harmonious use of a drum machine and Korg synth. "Serum" features Robinson's naïve vocal style, which cuts through Vile's gloopy, laudanum-influenced remix treatment of the instrumentation. "Calling Out of Work" returns to the territory of "Jamaica Plain," albeit with a more abstract interior landscape.