Kurt Vile has been a Matador recording artist ever since 2009, when the storied indie rock label released Vile’s Childish Prodigy album. Over the past 12 years, Vile has released six albums on Matador. Vile’s whole shambolic, laid-back everyman vibe seemed like a perfect match for a label that has long specialized in shambolic, laid-back everyman types. But no longer. Today, Billboard reports that Kurt Vile has left Matador for the Universal-distributed Verve Records. Next year, he’ll release his major-label debut.

In a statement to Billboard, Vile had this to say:

I’ve admired the Verve logo on the back (and front!) of many a Velvet Underground album since my teens. In particular the logo on the back of the vinyl boxset of the Quine Tapes has been haunting me for the last several years now… for whatever reason I often find myself staring into it (true story!). So when I was approached by the label to be signed I was surprised and honored to be sure… but I had already felt that subliminal enchantment and I knew it was a, well… sign! I think my previous album Bottle It In is my deepest record and I’m still really proud of it. I’m excited to release its follow-up on Verve. It’s been a crazy fuckin year and I’ve got hundreds of songs and ideas in the can, on paper, and in tape recorders all strewn about the “kv zone”… nuggets recorded before-and-after pandemic times… in studios and from home… music past, present and, yup, we’re still rolling. It’s gonna be heavy, it’s gonna be beautiful… and it’s gonna be out there.

That is an extremely Kurt Vile statement! Verve started out as a jazz label in 1956. Founder Norman Granz started the label specifically to release Ella Fitzgerald records, and the label’s roster at various points included Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, and Bill Evans. Later on, Verve released classic albums from the Velvet Underground and Talk Talk. These days, the label mostly serves as Universal’s jazz imprint, and its roster includes Jon Batiste, Cynthia Erivo, Diana Krall, Bettye LaVette, and Harry Connick Jr.