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Sure, there’s less humour here than Conor Oberst or Okkervil River, but there’s also less caricature, and if Damien Jurado continues to play second fiddle in terms of success, he no longer does so in terms of atmospheric arrangements, captivating tunes, and dark poetry.
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Caught in the Trees, quite simply, is too busy moving along to get too caught up in anything.
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At least the tension between his addiction to depression and his longing to escape it has, on this record, produced a music that’s not defeated, but appropriately tense.
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The simplicity of Jurado's writing is matched with a tender tone and a lack of condescension.
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With help from bandmates Eric Fisher and Jenna Conrad, his eighth full-length could be the album to finally propel the little known guitarist to Arcade Fire-like heights.
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The distinctions that make or break any artist in this world have everything to do with either lyrical acumen, vocal skill, or both. Luckily for Jurado, he’s a dead ringer at both, a sure hand with expressions of exquisitely direct aching who likewise possesses a breathy timbre in his phrasing that deepens its technical limitations.
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Caught in the Trees might have scored even more highly if it didn't trail off a bit, with Jurado seeming to run out of inspiration towards the end.
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Under The RadarIn the end, of the 13 tracks here, eight probably could've been scrapped and he's have turned out a strong EP. Instead he's added a weak album to a strong, but not always reliable, body of work. [Fall 2008, p.81]
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Caught In The Trees covers familiar ground, simultaneously bare and flourished, effortless and meticulous, but where Jurado’s lyrics have grown more abstract, still loaded with death, exhaustion, and horse metaphors but, in rarefied form, not really tied to any specific situation or memory, he’s correspondingly spread out his tools.
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UncutA delicious pathos has sustained Jurado through seven albums. It's still intact but it's just possible to detect a lightning of his mood around rthe edges. [Nov 2008, p.105]
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Alternative PressA lovely example of how acoustic-based music doesn't need to be limited by its sparse nature. [Oct 2008, p.153]
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Even when the instrumentation oversteps its boundaries, like on the extended rock-out bridge of 'Sheets,' it provides the adequate backbone Jurado’s lyrics need to stand.
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MojoIt's a beautifully rounded affair though--sometimes elegiac, at others uplifting, no matter how dark its heart. [Dec 2008, p.112]
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Q MagazineWhile 'Caskets' and 'Coats Of Ice' evoke Eels at their most melodic, the tedious 'Gillian Was A Horse' belongs in the knackers' yard. [Nov 2008, p.117]
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Caught in the Trees is neither as ranging or as raw as what Jurado’s capable of. While that still slots it comfortably above most records of its ilk, in the context of this catalog, it’s essentially caught in the middle.
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All of this is still quite gut-wrenching, yes, but I find Caught in the Trees to be better when it explores other themes.
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What Jurado does most isn't necessarily what he does best, which is what makes the first half of Caught In The Trees so refreshing.