Simple Songs (Jim O'Rourke album)

Simple Songs is the third singer-songwriter album by American musician Jim O'Rourke for Drag City. It was released on May 19, 2015, nearly fourteen years after O'Rourke's previous singer-songwriter album Insignificance (2001).[2] O'Rourke uses Drag City for his more conventional work.

Simple Songs
Studio album by Jim O'Rourke
Released	May 19, 2015
Recorded	2009-2015[1]
Genre	Indie rock pop rock art rock
Length	37:38
Label	Drag City
Producer	Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke chronology
The Visitor (2009) Simple Songs (2015)

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.0/10[3]
Metacritic	86/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
American Songwriter	[5]
Consequence of Sound	B[6]
Exclaim!	8/10[7]
Financial Times	[8]
The Line of Best Fit	9/10[9]
Mojo	[10]
Pitchfork	8.6/10[11]
Record Collector	[12]
Uncut	8/10[13]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 86 based on 14 professional reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[4]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Year	Rank
Pitchfork	The 50 Best Albums of 2015	2015	45[14]
Stereogum	The 50 Best Albums of 2015	2015	9[15]
The Wire	Releases of the Year 1–50	2015	7[16]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jim O'Rourke.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Friends with Benefits"	5:25
2.	"That Weekend"	3:15
3.	"Half Life Crisis"	4:42
4.	"Hotel Blue"	3:21
5.	"These Hands"	3:13
6.	"Last Year"	5:47
7.	"End of the Road"	5:33
8.	"All Your Love"	6:22
Total length:		37:38

Personnel

The following people contributed to Simple Songs:[17]

Main personnel

• Jim O'Rourke – vocals
• Sudoh Toshiaki – bass
• Tatsuhisa Yamamoto – drums
• Akiko Yoshino – french horn (4, 6, 7, 8)
• Ren Takada – pedal steel guitar (5)
• Eiko Ishibashi – piano, organ
• Jun Moriyama – saxophone (3)
• Nahoko Kamei – saxophone (3, 7)
• Atsuko Hatano – strings
• Daisuke Takaoka – tuba (2, 3, 6, 8)

Additional personnel

• John Golden – mastering
• Kuniyoshi Taikou – photography

References

1. Jim O'Rourke – Interview. Bomb (magazine). Retrieved December 15, 2015.
2. "Simple Songs - Jim O'Rourke". Drag City. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
3. "Simple Songs by Jim O'Rourke reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
4. "Reviews for Simple Songs by Jim O'Rourke". Metacritic. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
5. Horowitz, Hal (June 25, 2015). "Jim O'Rourke: Simple Songs". American Songwriter. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
6. Kivel, Adam (May 12, 2015). "Jim O'Rourke – Simple Songs". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
7. Khanna, Vish (May 15, 2015). "Jim O'Rourke: Simple Songs". Exclaim!. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
8. Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (May 16, 2015). "Jim O'Rourke: Simple Songs — review". Financial Times. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
9. Wisgard, Alex (May 14, 2015). "Jim O'Rourke's called his new album Simple Songs, the big kidder". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
10. "Jim O'Rourke: Simple Songs". Mojo (260). July 2015.
11. Richardson, Mark (May 15, 2015). "Jim O'Rourke: Simple Songs". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
12. Kennedy, Jake (June 2015). "Jim O'Rourke – Simple Songs". Record Collector (441). Retrieved October 31, 2018.
13. Mulvey, John (July 2015). "Jim O'Rourke: Simple Songs". Uncut (218): 80.
14. "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Pitchfork. December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
15. "The 50 Best Albums Of 2015". stereogum.com. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
16. "2015 Rewind: Releases of the Year 1–50". The Wire. No. 383. London. January 2016. p. 32 – via Exact Editions. (subscription required)
17. Simple Songs – Credits. Discogs. Retrieved December 15, 2015.