I can safely say that Damien Jurado scares me. But I mean it in the best possible way. He scares me the same way that Rasputina and Black Heart Procession do; they are all emotionally frightening. It seems odd to lump Damien Jurado in with those other two bands, since those bands use different methods of "scaring" listeners. Rasputina use cellos and morbid imagery. Black Heart Procession use piano, saw (it is, in fact, an effectively creepy instrument) and intense heartbreak. The most impressive thing about Damien Jurado is that he uses nothing but a guitar and the common despair that we can all relate to. I know that any one of Jurado's songs will probably make me cry (or at least feel like I want to). That in itself is quite frightening.
Jurado has been compared to John Darnielle (the Mountain Goats) and I can see the similarities; but I don't see Darnielle as particularly frightening. He can be playful at times, mostly to ease the tension of his songs, but that's never been the case with Damien Jurado. I remember hearing "Johnny Go Riding" on a mix from a friend (several years ago when I was on Art Of The Mix regularly) and by the end of it, I didn't even realize that I was starting to cry. The same thing continued when this same friend sent me a mix of songs from all his albums. Even if the situation isn't technically relatable to any one person, Jurado has the ability to evoke a heart heartwrenching but simple sadness that at least someone you know has experienced. All of us have experienced being heartbroken at one point or another. Jurado does an excellent job of reminding us that we all have that in common, in a variety of ways. There is nowhere to run and no escape in his songs. He writes vignettes of characters troubled by the heartache of daily life and he makes you care about them, and in some way, mourn for them. But unlike, say, the "down and out" characters that Craig Finn creates (at least with The Hold Steady) in his songs, there are no happy endings for Jurado's folks. There is no redemption or second chances for these people.
Going back to John Darnielle for a moment, he can do the same thing on certain albums - try listening to "The Sunset Tree" all the way through; it is an emotionally brutal experience. But Jurado always gets down to business, whether he occasionally adds a full band or is by himself. However, much like Darnielle (and Pall Jenkins of Black Heart Procession), he uses his voice to further effect the listener. With everything he sings about, he sounds timid yet self-assured; his characters might be lost causes, but there's nothing mysterious in his songs. A lot of times singers can seem to truly sound this way but come off as manipulative or like they are showing off; such is not the case with Jurado.
I like to think that Damien Jurado is in a class by himself - he has been consistently releasing gut-wrenchingly yet realistically sad albums for over ten years, without changing the game plan too much, and yet still able to pull at the heartstrings. He just released "Maraqopa" earlier this month. Despite the stability of his personal life (a pre-school teacher who is married with a young son), this album proves that he's still got plenty of heartbreak left in him. And, as Pitchfork points out in a Jurado album review, maybe there will be a divorce album in his future - we know that if there is, it will be an absolute treat. Even if it is in a terrible way.
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