♬ Damien Jurado – Maraqopa

It doesn’t happen very often-definitely not as much as I’d like-but every once in a while I get to experience that extraordinary feeling that I’m listening, for the first time, to what is soon to be one of my favorite albums. It’s kind of like meeting someone, making a special connection and knowing right away that you’re going to be good friends for the rest of your life. It’s pretty rare, for me, to feel a deep or meaningful connection to a group of songs when I’m listening to them for the first time. With Maraqopa, the new LP from Damien Jurado, it took less than ten minutes.

there was a time / when we were golden
like the sun / we were lights in the world

It’s no secret that Jurado’s one of my favorite songwriters- he’s been writing and performing gorgeous songs that I’ve loved for years -but when I mention his name as one of my favorite artists to someone outside of the music industry, I often get a blank stare. They’ve never heard his name before. I think that’s about to change.

Maraqopa is Jurado’s second album in the past year working with producer and good friend Richard Swift (currently performing with the Shins). Last year’s Saint Bartlett was a stunning release as well, but I think Maraqopa takes the combo to a new level with a deeper, more layered sound that just plain works with Jurado’s sublime vocal style. From the psych-twinged tension of “Nothing is the News” to the shear, minimalist beauty of “Museum of Flight”, there isn’t a single track on Maraqopa that hasn’t been repeating in my head since that first, haunting ten minutes.

Stream Maraqopa below today and buy it tomorrow when it’s released on Secretly Canadian without hesitation; this one is really something extraordinary.