# Damien Jurado American singer-songwriter, born 12 November 1972, working out of Seattle since the mid-90s. A quiet, hugely prolific figure in indie folk — often described as a kind of godfather to a generation of Pacific Northwest singer-songwriters, despite never breaking into mainstream visibility. Known for lo-fi, poetic, sometimes narrative/character-driven songwriting, and for a career-defining creative partnership with producer Richard Swift in the 2010s. ## Early career Started releasing lo-fi folk recordings on his own cassette-only label, Casa Recordings, from 1995. Built a local Seattle cult following that eventually reached Sub Pop Records via a recommendation from Sunny Day Real Estate's Jeremy Enigk. After a couple of 7-inch singles, Sub Pop released his full-length debut *Waters Ave S.* (1997), followed by *Rehearsals for Departure* (1999), produced by Ken Stringfellow of the Posies/Big Star. ## Middle years and the Richard Swift partnership Kept up a steady, low-key release pace through the 2000s. The pivotal creative relationship of his career was with producer/multi-instrumentalist Richard Swift (1977–2018), starting with *Saint Bartlett* (2010). Swift produced five straight Jurado albums, including the loosely connected "Maraqopa trilogy" — *Maraqopa* (2012), *Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son* (2014), and *Visions of Us on the Land* (2016) — which pushed Jurado's sound into more psychedelic, expansive, narrative territory built around a recurring cast of characters, and brought him his first appearances on the Billboard 200. Swift himself was a notable artist in his own right (solo albums as Richard Swift, keyboardist for Starflyer 59, later touring member of the Shins and the Black Keys) before his death in 2018. ## Later work Following the Swift-produced run, Jurado returned in 2018 with *The Horizon Just Laughed*, his first entirely self-produced album — a more stripped-back, personal turn after the character-driven trilogy. Has continued releasing music steadily since, maintaining the same low-profile, prolific approach that's defined his whole career. ## Discography (selected) - *Waters Ave S.* (1997) - *Rehearsals for Departure* (1999) - *Ghost of David* (2000) - *I Break Chairs* (2002) - *Where Shall You Take Me?* (2006) - *Caught in the Trees* (2008) - *Saint Bartlett* (2010) — first with Richard Swift producing - *Maraqopa* (2012) - *Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son* (2014) - *Visions of Us on the Land* (2016) - *The Horizon Just Laughed* (2018) — first self-produced - *In the Shape of a Storm* (2019) - *What's New, Tomboy?* (2021) ## Notes to self - The Maraqopa trilogy is the entry point most people recommend — worth listening to all three in sequence given they're conceived as connected. - Richard Swift is worth a note of his own eventually — producer/artist with a hand in a surprising number of records I like (Jurado, Foxygen, the Shins, Nathaniel Rateliff), died young in 2018.