Fresh off the April release of his 70-minute folk-rock epic Wakin on a Pretty Daze, patient Kurt Vile and his Violators stopped by The Sinclair for a sold-out show on the 17th. Vile made waves in 2011 with the much-acclaimed Smoke Ring for My Halo, and those waves are only getting bigger and bigger in 2013. Daze allows Vile’s folksy, freewheeling songs to stretch out and expand in the best possible ways, and tosses in a healthy dose of classic rock throwback moments for good measure. Both Vile’s rocker and balladeer sides were satisfyingly on display during his 90-plus minute set.

Steve Gunn, who joined the band on guitar for a few tracks during Vile’s set, opened the show with a collection of his own ambling folk songs. Gunn sounded something like a slightly more stripped-down and countrified version of his host, and he was a perfect fit as an opener. Chicago’s Angel Olsen played a second opening set, offering up her minimalist guitar playing and operatic vocals backed by a cellist. Olsen has a voice to be reckoned with, but a chatty crowd did seem to sour her experience.

Vile and his band took the stage around 10:45. Opening with the new album’s pseudo-title track “Wakin on a Pretty Day,” they wound their way through 13 songs drawn largely from the previous two albums. Fans of Vile’s hazier early work might have felt slighted, but leaning heavily on his two most focused LPs yet was a wise choice. Smoke Ring’s “Ghost Town” was transformed from a slow-burning album closer to a spacey, extended jam. A solo run-through of “Peeping Tom” was nothing short of mesmerizing. A few of the newer songs didn’t sound as refined as they might have, but “Was All Talk” and the upbeat “Shame Chamber” were excellent.

The real highlight of the show came at the very end of the set, when Vile and the band offered back-to-back cuts from 2009’s Childish Prodigy. “Hunchback” and “Freak Train” are easily the record’s two best songs, and they play to the strengths of the current Violators lineup. New drummer Vince Nudo sounded a bit too heavy-handed on some of Daze’s airier tracks, but he was right at home with the stomp of “Hunchback.” Both songs also offered ample opportunities for Vile, guitarist Jesse Trbovich and ‘auxiliary Violator’ Steve Gunn to show off some psychedelic, shoegazey fretwork.

Vile himself didn’t have too much to say throughout the night, beyond a ‘thank you’ here and there. With his face often half-hidden by a long mass of hair, and his vocal delivery characterized by a sort of carefree drawl, Vile seemed content to operate in his own relaxed zone. Even during the set’s heaviest, most rock-out worthy moments, he gave off an air of zen calmness. Jayson Greene’s Pitchfork review of Daze presents the image of Vile “reced[ing] further into the privacy of his own mind,” and it was difficult to shake that image throughout the set. The man is on his own plane, and the audience is just there to visit.

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