Damien Jurado - Caught in the Trees (2008)

Nearly 20 years into his tenure as a prominent Pacific Northwest punk-turned-beloved folk-leaning songwriter, Jurado is still perfecting his mixture of barely restrained angst and carefully strategized tranquility. CAUGHT IN THE TREES continues to evoke the ghosts of his peers, Kurt Cobain and Elliott Smith, but is neither as hopeless as the former nor as vulnerable as the latter. The guitars get louder on standout tracks like “Caskets,” but the sweetness on display during “Gillian Was A Horse” and the engaging sadness laid bare on “Last Rights” (both given an even more sympathetic air by Jenny Conrad’s co-vocals) border on stunning.