Sun Kil Moon - 'April' (Caldo Verde) Released 31/03/08

Mark Kozelek has been enchanting audiences ever since his former group the Red House Painters stormed out of San Francisco brandishing debut LP ‘Down Colourful Hill’ in 1992. Kozelek’s journey has certainly been eventful, featuring entire albums of stripped down AC DC reconstructions, unlikely appearances in Vanilla Sky, protracted fights with various record labels and some spellbinding live performances.

The Korean pro-boxing inspired moniker of ‘Sun Kil Moon’ has been Kozelek’s vehicle since 2003, releasing the stunning folk-rock of debut LP ‘Ghosts of the Great Highway’ and a far less inspiring album of Modest Mouse covers in 2005. ‘April’ is an impressive collection of emotional outpourings channelled through a voice that must qualify to be one of the most affecting instruments ever committed to tape.  Kozelek has few peers in the field of confessional story-telling, though it is revealing that Will Oldham provides back up vocals on a couple of tracks. Only the Bonnie Prince of Alt. Country has come anywhere close to such an understated, prolific and heart breaking body of work in recent memory.  

The opening 10-minute epic of ‘Lost Verses’ perfectly sets the tone, the older and much wiser cousin of Red House Painter’s masterpiece ‘Medicine Bottle’, the sense of loss expressed resembling a complete catharsis by the time that the electrifying guitars rise up like spirits at a séance. The plaintive simplicity of ‘Lucky Man’ sees Kozelek proclaiming “I didn’t know my purpose until I stood and sang for crowds of passing faces”. You see, he is compelled to do this, to tell these stories to you.

‘Tonight the Sky’ is a great example of what is on offer, Neil Young inflected vocal lines interweaving with minimalist and suspenseful melodic guitar lines to create a narrative unfolding with a sense of foreboding and reaching a sense of redemption by the time that the frazzled journey is over.  Companion piece ‘Tonight in Bilbao’ is descriptive and heartfelt, like the musical equivalent of a voyeuristic Hitchcock trip underpinned with a mini-orchestra. Despite the sense of unease, we are compelled to tune in and find out what happens next

Sun Kil Moon definitely doesn’t fit into the pop kaleidoscope of 2008, this record doesn’t have the lyrical quirks and pop sensibilities of a Vampire Weekend or playful electro shapes of bands like MGMT. The production is simple, the songs are timeless blistering epics and in fact it is this lack of belonging that makes ‘April’ such a bold yet unassuming statement. Admittedly, almost 80 minutes of this can leave you feeling like you’ve spent an evening in the Chelsea Hotel with Leonard Cohen, so your enjoyment will very much depend on whether or not that is your idea of fun. 

Treasure this record. It may be forever entrenched in April 2008 by its very title but these torch songs of disenchantment will accompany you through winter storms for many, many years to come.