Download Damien Jurado's "Christmas Time Is Here" at HitFix
Announcing European Tour in Support of Maraqopa this February
Damien Jurado loves Christmas. He's been waking up since October with a specific number in his head that corresponds to the days left until December 25th. It's with that spirit and devotion that Damien recorded his own version of Vince Guaraldi Trio's "Christmas Time Is Here," the beloved holiday classic from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
"Christmas Time Is Here" was recorded in Seattle by Steven Aguilar at Red House and Bearhead Studio, produced by Kyle Zantos and performed by Damien Jurado, the Aki Kurose Middle School Academy Glee Club, Joe Ruppert, Cole Mauro, Kyle Zantos and Dave Hall.
Click here to download "Christmas Time Is Here" at Hitfix.com (mp3 link at bottom)
Maraqopa is Damien's newest collaboration with producer Richard Swift. At Swift's National Freedom studios, the live-to-tape ethos allowed these new songs to expand and retract like a great beast's breath. Every in-the-moment bell and whistle here is hung with a natural, casual care. And from this, each song offers up its own unique gift: the enchanting children's choir that echoes each line of Jurado's lament for innocence lost on "Life Away from the Garden"; the breezy bossa nova that begins "This Time Next Year" and rises as effortless as a smoke cloud into high-noon showdown pop; "Reel to Reel"'s wobbly, Spector-symphony and its meta themes; the wonderful falsetto vocal work Jurado pulls from himself on "Museum of Flight."
The Seattle Times recently called Jurado "Seattle's folk-boom godfather," a praising recognition to be sure. But also a title Jurado might not yet be ready to accept. That's a title for someone who has settled. With each visit to National Freedom, Jurado is exploring, taking risks. He's not only freeing his songs. The gate is opened wide to allow us all into his once-isolated musical universe. One gets the sense he's just now hitting his stride.
Tickets are now on sale for the Maraqopa release show, February 17th at The Neptune in Seattle with Gold Leaves (Hardly Hart) and Bryan John Appleby.
Praise for
"Nothing is the News"
from Maraqopa (out 2/21/12)
"It's a testament to Jurado's easy, mournful singing voice and his solidity as a songwriter that he can make such stylistic jumps sound immediately like his own."
Seattle Weekly
"Slowburn blues that quickly explodes into six-string theatrics. With its aggressive psychedelia, there's something refreshing about this track compared to most of the sterilized rock covering the indie landscape right now."
RCRD LBL
"A good next chapter for Jurado — a sturdy construction filled with hazey blues."
Consequence of Sound
