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When Philadelphia’s Kurt Vile released his cult debut, 2008’s Constant Hitmaker, it was hard to say which part of his fuzzed-out road-warrior sound was closer to an affectation: The Neil Young/Bruce Springsteenisms, or the hissy lo-fi coating. A bunch of albums and a Matador Records contract later, Vile is writing longer and deeper and sounds a lot more expensive. His latest, Wakin on a Pretty Daze, can be crisp and cool, like a Crazy Horse record from right before or right after Young’s mid-’70s gloom spiral. Other times, it’s densely orchestrated and ruminative, with extended guitar excursions that sound like they’ve been filtered through bong water and the kind of beachy, unhurried vibe that connotes experience but in this cases thrives on it, too: The self-described “childish prodigy,” 33, now sounds pretty grown up. “All right, what now? That’s fine,” he sings on “KV Crimes” in his cracked, increasingly confident rasp. “I think I’m ready to claim what’s mine, rightfully.”
July 20 at 9:30 Club. $20. 930.com