Damien Jurado: Waters Ave. S.

It's yet another slow week for record releases, but that's probably for the best: You wouldn't notice Damien Jurado's full-length debut album in the racks if it were sitting alongside the new album by some cover-boy rock band. But because it isn't, you've got a chance to succumb to the subtle, moody, indefinable charms of Waters Ave. S. Jurado's voice has a strange, straining quality about it, and that earnest yearning sounds just right when it exists alongside his excellent but understated guitar work. Usually, you don't have the time to let subtle, imperfect, indefinable records grow on you with repeat listens. But with time to kill before a big, bloated new commercial alt-rock album arrives—Seven Mary Three, Silverchair, The Offspring and more show up in the next few weeks—you've got the opportunity to do some discovering. Waters Ave. S. is a fine place to start.