DAMIEN JURADO: Sessions

While in the midst of a three-month cross-country tour with opener Laura Gibson, supporting his most recent release, Caught in the Trees, Damien Jurado took a few minutes to stop by our office, record a couple songs and stretch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

[wpaudio url=”https://savageventures-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/01-Track-01.mp3″ text=”Damien Jurado – Icicle” dl=”0″] [wpaudio url=”https://savageventures-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/02-Track-02.mp3″ text=”Damien Jurado – Put The Hatchet Down” dl=”0″] [wpaudio url=”https://savageventures-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Hoquium160k.mp3″ text=”Damien Jurado – Hoquiam” dl=”0″] [wpaudio url=”https://savageventures-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Last-Rights-Damien160k.mp3″ text=”Damien Jurado – Last Rights” dl=”0″]

These tracks were recorded by Steve Martin at the American Songwriter offices in Nashville, Tennessee.

While in the midst of a three-month cross-country tour with opener Laura Gibson, supporting his most recent release, Caught in the Trees, Damien Jurado took a few minutes to stop by our office, record a couple songs and stretch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Though he’s nearing a dozen albums deep into his recording career, the previous night was Damien’s first time to headline a venue in Nashville.

When he’s not playing music, Jurado’s your genuine nice-guy-next-door-entering a room with a personable, jolly swagger. But when he picks up his Alvarez to play “Icicles” from his 2005 album, On My Way to Absence, we notice, as we did the night before, how calm and reflective he becomes-as if he is addressing the exact emotional instant when he wrote the song. In the room, it creates a mood of intensity and sincerity, and offers a fleeting glimpse into his creative process

Next, he covers the song “Put the Hatchet Down” written by Jamie Spiess, a friend of his who records under the moniker Husbands, Love Your Wives. She’s just one of the many talented songwriters from the Seattle area Jurado mingles with; he regularly plays with friends J. Tillman (Fleet Foxes), David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) and Jeremy Enigk, just to name a few others.

We hesitate to continue recording for a moment, fearing the sounds of traffic and shutter clicks from our cameras are distracting the recording process. Damien reassures that the factors of external sounds only make the recording more personal and real, and tells us to continue without worry with a quick flash of a smile. Then quietly, again, he begins strumming a slower-paced, haunting rendition of the opening track “Hoquiam,” from 2006’s And Now I’m In Your Shadow, filling the room like a benediction. Lastly, he closes with a song from his most recent album Caught In The Trees called “Last Rights,” before hitting up some of Nashville’s local hotspots on this much-needed day of rest.

Check out our gear review for this session, the Izotope Ozone 4