The follow-up to 2015’s B’lieve I’m Goin Down is an open-hearted ode to travel and love, its sprawling songs recorded all over the USA and carrying the War On Drugs co-founder in new musical directions. Bottle It In clocks in at 75 minutes, with no fewer than four songs passing the seven-minute mark; Vile takes his time, and his laconic vocal style and expansive guitar playing are ever-present, but cameos from Cass McCombs, Kim Gordon, Mary Lattimore and Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa broaden the instrumental palate. Reverse guitar textures swirl around a classic Kurt Vile phrase on the loping Bassackwards as he reflects: “I was on the ground circa Planet Earth, but out of sorts”. Lattimore’s ornate harp playing and McCombs’ backing vocals adorn the 10-minute title track, while Mutinies finds Vile lamenting “the small computer in my hand exploding/ I think things were easier with regular telephones”, before Gordon’s waves of rich feedback subsume the outro. A pleasure best savoured, not rushed.
Written by Gary Walker. Released on Matador.