Concert Review: Damien Jurado Goes Acoustic At Murmrr Theatre

Damien Jurado is an indie legend because he completely represents the meaning of this “genre”; to figure things out. Indie-pop, indie-rock, and even indie-jazz all feel like their parents’ “quieter” children. To turn something “indie” is not necessarily to “simplify” it, but to make it pensive.  For Damien Jurado, music begins with a thought.

It may seem obvious, “music begins with a thought”, but in a world that could be addicted to an “orchestration” or truly believes “the more the merrier”, Damien Jurado just needs a chair, a mic, his guitar, and his memories. He truly shows you the connection between the mind and the soul, which stood out, again, because it was in a temple. Walking in to see fliers of upcoming religious outings, always sets a mood of sacredness in my mind. Like “Buzzy Lee” , churches/ synagogues oddly draw out the emotional brokenness of a song, and, at Murmrr Theater, Damien Jurado showed human beings are a strange paradox of emotional breakage and resilience.

Subtly heart-warming, Jurado felt like the most “put-together”, un-put person. Frankly, I think everyone is oddly “un-put”, and Jurado uses music to figure out how you can consistently gather and glue-back the same heart you keep breaking: your own. Tracks like, “Dear Thomas Wolfe”, “Marvin Kaplan”, and “Florence-Jean” prove, even in title, that Jurado is dedicated to observing the human experience from an individual perspective to transfer it into a universal one. Going acoustic was a transition for the psych-rocker that may have been different for him in its dynamic intimacy, but it all felt connected to his core capacity: elaborately detailing the internal battles between sadness and joy like, “The Last Great Washington State”.

From “Over Rainbows and Rainer” to a few unreleased tracks or from “Beacon Hill” and some classic, audience faves, Jurado delivered a set that felt like you were watching a human observer hesitantly reveal his secret observances. He was both coy and confident, but blessed with a voice that can turn a recipe for eggnog into the most insightful thing you have ever heard. The result was a concert that felt like you were on a park bench watching people pass you by and imagining their lives. For More Information On Damien Jurado Click Here.