Kurt Vile, in squirrel form | courtesy of Matador Records
Behold! It’s Kurt Vile as a squirrel, singing a song in the HBO show Animals
You know you’ve “made it” when you’ve been turned into a squirrel and featured on an HBO television show. That just happened to Philly’s own Kurt Vile, who made an appearance on HBO’s Animals this week.
In the episode, Vile plays a stoned squirrel who shares some nuts with a group of strangers (also squirrels) who come by his house (a tree, naturally). He then proceeds to serenade them with an original song about nuts. With lines like “Eatin’ and goin’ nuts, man / with my friends,” it’s safe that Vile’s little composition won’t make it onto his next album, but that doesn’t mean the song isn’t good. It’s got some quintessentially Kurt Vile trippy guitar riffs, along with Vile’s half-asleep sounding monotone drawl.
If nothing else, it’s good to know that if Kurt Vile ever decides to give up music, he may very well have an acting career ahead of him.
Check out the clip from Animals, which Pitchfork premiered, and make sure to catch Kurt Vile perform at this year’s XPoNential Fest on July 22.