The Visitor (Jim O'Rourke album)

The Visitor is an instrumental album by American musician Jim O'Rourke. It was released on Drag City in 2009 on CD and LP, but not digitally by O'Rourke's request. O'Rourke played every instrument on the album, and it was all recorded in his home in Tokyo. It marks his first proper studio album in eight years since Insignificance, released in 2001, and is intended to be a continuation of that album, Eureka, and Bad Timing.

The Visitor
Studio album by Jim O'Rourke
Released	September 8, 2009
Recorded	2009
Genre	Folk[1] orchestral pop[2] progressive rock[3]
Length	38:03
Label	Drag City
Producer	Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke chronology
Halfway to a Threeway (1999) The Visitor (2009) Simple Songs (2015)

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	73/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Beats per Minute	90%[6]
Consequence of Sound	A+[7]
Fact	9/10[1]
The List	[8]
Mojo	[4]
Pitchfork	8.3/10[2]
Q	[4]
Tiny Mix Tapes	[9]
XLR8R	8.5/10[10]

The Visitor received very positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 73, based on 5 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[4]

Pitchfork Media gave the album a very positive review, stating, "Given its patient development and refusal to climax, The Visitor runs the risk of being labeled boring and bland. Given its use of common instruments and techniques (a cymbal scraped with a drumstick constitutes the album's most "out" sound), it runs a high risk of being labeled pedestrian, too, as if O'Rourke has taken all of his experimental tendencies and finally reduced them into an adult-contemporary instrumental. Ultimately, that's about as silly as it sounds: The Visitor is a defiant record in both sound and spirit. The reluctance of O'Rourke and Drag City to release The Visitor as a digital download, for instance, rebels against our need for instant gratification. You have to work a bit to hear it. Symbolically, it's a potent act for such an anticipated release, even if bit torrents, RapidShare, and the ilk mean it's little more than a symbol. And O'Rourke's request that you listen out loud, loudly, means that you give it your attention, that you let it fill the room with sound. After all, this is soft music—and graceful and complicated and rich, too. While it might sound polite, though, it's not to be heard passively during your morning walk to work.[2]

Year-End Rankings

Publication	Rank	Ref
Consequence of Sound	17	[3]
Pitchfork	39	[11]
Tiny Mix Tapes	22	[12]
Uncut	30	[13]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Visitor"	38:03

References

1. Pollard, Cayce (September 2, 2009). "Jim O'Rourke: The Visitor". Fact. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
2. Currin, Grayson (September 18, 2009). "Jim O'Rourke: The Visitor". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
3. "CoS Year-End Report: The Top 100 Albums of '09: 25-1". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
4. "The Visitor - Jim O'Rourke". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
5. Jurek, Thom. "The Visitor - Jim O'Rourke". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
6. Galo, Rob (September 8, 2009). "Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor". Beats per Minute. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
7. Kivel, Adam (September 15, 2009). "Jim O'Rourke – The Visitor". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
8. Pia, Camilla (August 21, 2009). "Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor". The List. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
9. "Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
10. Harkin, Michael (November 5, 2009). "Jim O'Rourke The Visitor". XLR8R. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
11. "The Top 50 Albums of 2009". Pitchfork Media. December 17, 2009. p. 2. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
12. "2009: Favorite 50 Albums of 2009 (35-21)". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
13. "Uncut's 50 Best Albums of 2009". Album of the Year. Retrieved January 26, 2016.