Kurt Vile the Philadephia singer-songwriter is back with “watch my moves” his 8th solo album of what he calls “fried pop” music. Vile says, “It’s my own version of a classic thing, it’s moving forward and backward at the same time even though it’s fried or sizzled.” He drops plenty of references to other artists during the 15 song, over-an-hour-long recording written at the height of the pandemic.

Vile’s stream-of-conciousness slacker vocals over woozy instrumentation immediately bring to mind Beck and The Velvet Underground with lyrical references from Neil Young to Chastity Belt, a collaboration with Cate Lebon and a cover of a Bruce Springsteen rarity.

Hazy, lackadaisical, psych-folk, the album alternates between ruminating on the societal whiplash caused by Covid and marveling at the imagination required to make it through the “Work-From-Home” era.

Self-produced and home-recorded in Vile’s home studio, “watch my moves” roams and wanders, but never gets lost. The mix of detailed instrumentation and his experimental ideal makes the album feel monumental.