Damien Jurado "On My Way To Absence" CD

There comes a time in every artist's career when he disconnects himself from the public. Fans, friends, critics, they'll all be left behind in the creative process; maybe for only a spell, maybe forevermore. When that break happens, it's both liberating and terrifying. With "On My Way To Absence", Damien Jurado has made such a break. He hung up the phone and left it lying there on the counter, and in the process has created a quintessential Jurado piece of work; a masterpiece by one of today's most incredible voices. Stripped of any inclination or genre-adopting (his past albums deliberately each wore a different cloak: "Waters Ave S" was pop, "Rehearsals For Departure" was folk-rock, "Ghost of David" was ambient-experimentalism, "I Break Chairs" was rock, and "Where Shall You Take Me?" was Americana), "On My Way To Absence" is the sound of Jurado and long-time collaborator Eric Fisher locked in a mental space for four months, periodically inviting friends (including Rosie Thomas, Croo