The sort of signifiers that Kurt Vile trades in – the affable dude who appreciates a good time, the slow, stoned vibe of that dude and his guitar and the slacker ethos that leads him to never quite polish his songs to a professional level – have not always fit well with similar artists. Jerry Garcia’s solo work, for example, never held a candle to the stuff he did with the Dead, and Mac DeMarco’s schtick was fun at first but wore out its welcome rapidly. What separates Vile from others is that he’s just too damn likable for it not to work. Philadelphia’s Been Good to Me, his 10th studio album and third on a major label, turns the same tricks as all his previous work but with more polish. He’s as sloppy as ever, but the refined sense of control behind the songs makes him feel exactly as sloppy as he means to be.

The archetypal Kurt Vile solo record is 2013’s Wakin on a Pretty Daze. There, more so than on his four previous records or his work as the lead guitarist with pre-fame The War on Drugs, he established the basic sprawling classic rock-influenced haze that would carry him through every subsequent album. Over time, especially starting with 2015’s B’lieve I’m Goin Down…, he discovered the concept of hooks, and his songs deviated once in a while from lengthy stoned jams. Philadelphia’s Been Good to Me carries on this basic tension. You have songs like “99th Song,” a meandering 10-minute jam about the 99th song in his red loop pedal. On the other side, there are tighter-wound tracks like “Chance to Bleed,” one of the sharpest pieces in Vile’s whole collection. He repeats its hook of “Now you’ve got a chance to bleed/ With that old time, lo-fi, DIY, rock ‘n’ roll nights” more than is perhaps advisable for any other artist, but it’s such a great bit that each repetition becomes more fun than the last.

Vile goes back and forth between the two modes, managing to do both as well as he ever has. “99 BPM” billows with smoke and rides a vocal that feels like it’s had a place at least once on each of his albums. The closer “Avalanches of Snow” stretches out past seven minutes and combines his familiar guitar idioms with an interesting, soulful sax line. “You don’t know cuz it’s my life” is uncharacteristically busy at the beginning, where Vile sings animatedly about his life in Philadelphia and how it’s the town where Sun Ra lived. He also mentions two fairly obvious heroes of his – Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen – who wrote songs about Philadelphia, which he takes an amiable umbrage with because they aren’t from there. “But I still love you,” he soothes them, because even when he’s staking out his hometown territory, he still comes across as the friendliest guy with a guitar you’d ever hope to meet.

There are some experiments here and there to break up the rambling man jams. “Red Room Dub” combines his familiar guitar work with an electric piano accent, eschewing vocals altogether in service of working out new ways to state his old ideas. “Piano for Sarah” does the same thing, but strips back his usual layers to just a beautiful, stuttering piano loop over some affable rock drums. When his signature dirty guitar tone comes in at the end, it brings a new appreciation for the way Vile approaches his playing. “Every time I look at you” brings a gentle, more wholesome vibe, with a delicate arrangement and a lyric about being proud of your kid. He’s aging gracefully, letting his long hair grow even longer.

Philadelphia’s Been Good to Me fits neatly and easily into Kurt Vile’s catalog, another comfortable guitar rock record played loose and breezy. He explores a few different avenues for his writing, but keeps it mostly centered around classic rock played slow on lazy afternoons. The lyrics are, as usual, stream-of-consciousness, studded with lines that feel like the way the wind blows through a tree at a certain time of day. There’s meaning in it, but it’s often gone before you can fully grasp it. All the while, Vile’s guitar loops and swirls through his words and his structures like vines. The biggest indicator for liking his latest record is knowing and enjoying his style, but for those who do, it offers continued pleasures.

Summary

Philadelphia’s Been Good to Me fits neatly and easily into Kurt Vile’s catalog, another comfortable guitar rock record played loose and breezy.