Damien Jurado

Allegedly, teachers teach because they can't do. Damien Jurado, though, shouldn't have any worries: Although he leads sing-alongs as a preschool teacher in suburban Seattle, it hasn't inhibited his ability to craft and perform his mordantly clever, darkly catchy songs. After forming the Christian pop-punk band Coolidge with Pedro the...

By Jason Heller

October 28, 2004

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Allegedly, teachers teach because they can't do. Damien Jurado, though, shouldn't have any worries: Although he leads sing-alongs as a preschool teacher in suburban Seattle, it hasn't inhibited his ability to craft and perform his mordantly clever, darkly catchy songs. After forming the Christian pop-punk band Coolidge with Pedro the Lion's Dave Bazaan, Jurado went solo with his 1997 Sub Pop debut, Waters Ave. S. , a tour de force of folky bleakness and rugged heartache. What followed was a string of brilliant albums that vacillated from propulsive indie rock to the isolationist ennui of Nick Drake and Neil Young. His brand-new EP, Just in Time for Something, was recorded with secondhand tape on an old reel-to-reel machine, imparting a coarse, antique quality to Jurado's pensively soaring voice. Songwriter Richard Buckner also appears on Saturday night's bill. As rightly celebrated as Buckner is, though, Jurado might still end up teaching him a thing or two.

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