IT TOOK THE SHAPE OF A STORM | DAMIEN JURADO

5.25.19 A fantastic striped-down acoustic album. Just a man and his guitar. It might sound easier to put together this kind of record. But I think the artist is more exposed and songwriting is more front and center without all the accompaniment and studio trickery.

Ed Whitelock at PopMatter writes: It took Jurado two hours and 19 years to create It Took the Shape of a Storm. The two hours were all the studio time necessary to record these ten sparse songs with Josh Gordon accompanying on the second guitar. The 19 years is the period of time during which the songs were written and laid to the side to wait for the right moment to be completed. Jurado's previous work, especially the trilogy, functions for the listener both in the foreground and as background. That is, they rewarded close listening but also worked as background music that merged with whatever one was doing, on occasion rising to the foreground of consciousness with a surprising turn or shift. It Took the Shape of a Storm is an entirely foregrounded record; play it in the background and it will evaporate. These are quiet, affecting songs that demand to be listened to. An unusual and particularly satisfying aspect of this album is Jurado's attention to love songs, something he has shied away from, at least from the perspective of satisfied love. Yes, there are wry songs of unrequited love here, the kind of situations Jurado paints so well. "Newspaper Gown" is an homage to a cross-gendered friendship with no strings but plenty of speculation, except maybe things are not that clear-cut, as Jurado reveals in its final stanza. . .