Sun Kil Moon
Ghosts Of The Great Highway
Jetset, 2003

After recording a string of solo albums following the breakup of Red House Painters, Mark Kozelek assembled Sun Kil Moon, and released Ghosts Of The Great Highway. The album, which also features ex-Red House Painters drummer Anthony Koutsos, offers a familiar sound to fans of Kozelek’s peculiar fusing of American folk music and 1970s guitar rock, and reveals the continued maturity and refinement of the man’s voice and song-craft. Always an emotionally engaging performer, Kozelek’s evolution over the course of his career has reached a point of comfort and confidence which results in songs that are overflowing with pure feeling and warm assurance. His fascinating voice resonates with a yearning that is no longer tormented, yet cries out with affection for simple and honest pleasures. He now sounds like a man who has embraced his condition as a human being, and treasures his experiences and memories with melancholy fondness.

"You never know what day is gonna pick you, baby
Out of the air, out of nowhere"

It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that Ghosts Of The Great Highway is a logical progression from the final Red House Painters album, 2001's Old Ramon. Lengthy instrumental sections within "Salvador Sanchez" and the epic and gorgeous "Duk Koo Kim" are reminiscent of Old Ramon tracks "Void" and "River", coasting through extended passages that, much like a glorious spring afternoon, could seemingly go on eternally without protest. There is beautiful flow in these songs. "Carry Me Ohio" and "Gentle Moon" glide romantically through rich textures and drifting atmospheres in Kozelek’s familiar minimalist yet graceful compositional approach. Shorter songs like "Last Tide", which fades seamlessly into the similarly brief and longing "Floating", center on Kozelek’s emotional singing and delicate acoustic guitars to express wonderfully heartfelt sentiments. His affinity towards 70's rock bleeds into "Lily And Parrots" and "Salvador Sanchez", where big guitars and rock solid drumming form the core. Elsewhere, Spanish guitar themes decorate the charming instrumental "Si Paloma" and "Pancho Villa", an acoustic and lyrical reworking of "Salvador Sanchez" that closes the album in exquisite form.

Ghosts Of The Great Highway is an expansive album that presents a broad display of Mark Kozelek’s songwriting brilliance, however Sun Kil Moon is most certainly a band effort rather than an exalted Kozelek solo project. Koutsos, Tim Mooney, and Geoff Stanfield join Kozelek in creating charming and enveloping soundpictures to Kozelek’s plain-spoken lyrical poetry. The sound is full and warm, finely textured and spacious. The tone of this music is gentle, lively, hopeful, and yearning. Most importantly, and common to everything Kozelek has produced through his musical career, the music is honest, heartfelt, and genuine, and pours forth in aching-ly beautiful motion, arousing images of vast fields under summer skies, While comparisons to Red House Painters are inevitable, Sun Kil Moon offers a slightly more tender and vivid sound that expresses a wider array of emotions. Kozelek is identifiable with sad songs, and Ghosts Of The Great Highway does feature its fair share of sadness, yet it is an affectionate sadness rather than tormented and disturbing, shedding misery and frustration for a warm embrace of cherished memories and passionate hope.

9/9/06

1. Glenn Tipton
2. Carry Me Ohio
3. Salvador Sanchez
4. Last Tide
5. Floating
6. Gentle Moon
7. Lily And Parrots
8. Duk Koo Kim
9. Si Paloma
10. Pancho Villa

Sun Kil Moon
Tiny Cities
Caldo Verde, 2005

Mark Kozelek is no stranger to reinterpretations of songs from other artists, especially artists whose music occupies an altogether different musical dimension than Kozelek’s emotionalist folk/indie rock foundation. Throughout his career, the man has transformed big dumb hard rock songs from Kiss and AC/DC, progressive rock from Yes, and even quirky pop-rock from The Cars, into affectionate, charming, and eloquent songs. His most notable work of covers is 2001's What’s Next To The Moon?, a solo album constructed entirely of AC/DC songs turned into touching folk tunes that gave lyrics of adolescent rebellion and testosterone overload a tender, heartfelt presentation through Kozelek’s touching acoustic guitar arrangements and brilliant, plaintive vocals. Now the Washington-based indie-rock band Modest Mouse is given the Kozelek treatment on Sun Kil Moon’s Tiny Cities.

The disc is made up of eleven brief reinterpretations of mostly earlier Modest Mouse material. Again, Kozelek proves a genius in taking another singer’s words and providing them a completely different feel through delicate acoustic guitars and beautifully resonating singing. As with his other covers, Kozelek takes the core idea of the song and reconstructs the main theme, making it unrecognizable through stark yet beautiful arrangements. Only the lyrics are recognizable, though not easily, as Kozelek’s voice has a unique way of blending words, especially near the end of a line, to the point that they resemble a distant mumble, but one that carries an endearing affect. Lyrically, these songs aren’t nearly as challenging a translation as, say, "Bad Boy Boogie", but the vocals of these originals are similarly jarring, and Kozelek’s fluid, melancholy voice gives these words an entirely different feel, from nervous and unsettled to affectionate and sensitive. Soft percussion decorates a few tunes, such as "Grey Ice Water" and "Neverending Math Equation", but most of these songs are acoustic guitar and vocal renditions. The versions of "Space Travel Is Boring", "Trucker’s Atlas", and "Four Fingered Fisherman" are striking in their warmth of sentiment shining through from gorgeous vocal arrangements and fragile guitars. However, the beautiful take on "Ocean Breathes Salty" is the highlight of this album, and perhaps the most stunning transformation. Kozelek takes the pretentious groove of the original and turns the song into a gorgeous expression of hope and departure. Who else besides Mark Kozelek can turn such a song into a sparse lament reflecting the utter vulnerability of the human condition?

While the sound of Modest Mouse doesn’t conflict with Kozelek’s approach as much as AC/DC’s does, it is still nevertheless a strange union. The jangly, scratchy, high-strung tone at the heart of Modest Mouse songs is here smoothed out into pleasant, serene, compassionate songs of simple elegance. It should not be a disappointment that the second recording of Sun Kil Moon material is without Kozelek originals, as all of these songs are indistinguishable with his self-penned work. This is the excellence of his vision towards arrangement. Unfamiliarity with the originals of Kozelek’s translations can easily lead the listener to fall under the impression that what is being heard is a Kozelek original. It is this quality, along with unpredictable source material, that makes a truly splendid cover, and Tiny Cities is another presentation of Mark Kozelek’s phenomenal mastery of this art.

9/10/06

1. Exit Does Not Exist
2. Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes
3. Neverending Math Equation
4. Space Travel Is Boring
5. Dramamine
6. Jesus Christ Was An Only Child
7. Four Fingered Fisherman
8. Grey Ice Water
9. Convenient Parking
10. Trucker’s Atlas
11. Ocean Breathes Salty

Sun Kil Moon

JetSet Records

Caldo Verde Records

Sun Kil Moon Discography

Ghosts Of The Great Highway (Jetset, 2003)
Tiny Cities (Caldo Verde, 2005)