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As reported here<\/a> back in November, one of our most anticipated albums of 2012 is Damien Jurado’s Mariqopa<\/em><\/strong><\/em>, which will finally be released next week on\u00a0Secretly Canadian<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Jurado’s 2010 album,\u00a0Saint Bartlett<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, made our Top Albums list for 2010 and his album, Rehearsals for Departure<\/strong>, is one of our all-time favorites<\/a>.<\/p>\n As can be immediately heard on the opening track, Nothing Is the News<\/strong><\/em>, Jurado’s recent comrade on Saint Bartlett, the ascendant producer Richard Swift<\/strong> (Mynabirds, Gardens & Villa, etc.), has taken Jurado’s usual highwater songwriting and expanded his sound palette in fittingly ambitious ways to lift his songs even higher.\u00a0 Jurado has never hidden his appreciation for Neil Young<\/strong> and has subconsciously (at a minimum; just listen to that falsetto) paid homage to Young over the years in his songs.\u00a0\u00a0 So it’s not a great surprise that at times on Mariqopa<\/strong>, Swift seems to be to Jurado as Jack Nitzsche<\/strong> was to Neil Young on Young’s seminal Harvest<\/strong> album.\u00a0 Nitzsche reached high on the Harvest songs he produced, and the rest is beautifully bombastic musical history.\u00a0 On Mariqopa<\/strong> we hear Nitszchean strings, waves of guitar, children’s choirs, keyboards, flutes, horns and most of the rest of the kitchen sink.\u00a0 The Swift one also brings Phil Spector<\/strong> and Dave Fridmann<\/strong> production elements to the mix, though at the right times rightfully defers to Jurado’s vocals.<\/p>\n Highlights off the album<\/strong> (so far):\u00a0 Reel to Reel<\/strong><\/em> (with its Flaming Lips<\/strong> feel), Working Titles<\/strong><\/em> (with its pointed lyrics and Motown-ish backup vocals), the very Young-ian<\/strong> Mountains Still Asleep <\/strong><\/em>and Everyone a Star, <\/strong><\/em>the poignant So On, Nevada, <\/strong><\/em>and Museum of Flight <\/em><\/strong>(with its propulsive rhythms and fab falsetto vocals).\u00a0 That’s right, we didn’t leave many songs off the highlights list.\u00a0 That’s because it’s a tour de force from stem to stern.\u00a0 He’s one of our best.\u00a0 Check it out.<\/p>\n