Simple Songs (Jim O'Rourke album)
# Simple Songs (Jim O'Rourke album)

Simple Songs is the third and final 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).

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :

| Aggregate scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.0/10 |
| Metacritic | 86/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| American Songwriter | |
| Consequence of Sound | B |
| Exclaim! | 8/10 |
| Financial Times | |
| The Line of Best Fit | 9/10 |
| Mojo | |
| Pitchfork | 8.6/10 |
| Record Collector | |
| Uncut | 8/10 |

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".

### Accolades

| Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank |
| - | - | - | - |
| Pitchfork | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 | 2015 | 45 |
| Stereogum | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 | 2015 | 9 |
| The Wire | Releases of the Year 1–50 | 2015 | 7 |

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Jim O'Rourke.

## Personnel

The following people contributed to Simple Songs:

### Main personnel

* Jim O'Rourke – vocals, guitar
* 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
* Daysuke Takaoka – tuba (2, 3, 6, 8)

### Additional personnel

* John Golden – mastering
* Kuniyoshi Taikou – photography
