Sun Kil Moon

Sun Kil Moon - April (2008)
Back from a little hiatus and going to start digging out from a backlog. Finally, placed an order and just got this one in the mail. It's good. It's an easy passive listen, but it's definitely going to take work to dig out the gold on this record.

The Village Voice, under the subtitle, "Sad-folk preacher delivers a really long sermon," describes Mark Kozolek (the driving force behind SKM) as "a stubborn gray. Amid the poppy reds of the New Pornographers, the quirky greens of Grizzly Bear, and the fervent purples of the Arcade Fire, he's the hoary bard of rainy mornings and smoky bars—the cloud over your Sunday picnic." The Austinist roughed it up a bit:

Speaking of RHP, April lifts off with a wink at their legacy. Opening with the chirpy "Lost Verses", Kozelek's voice sounds fresher, younger as it did on RHP's debut so long ago. Loping guitars chords multiply, and distant, reverb-laden voices sneak into the song's center, before a gritty exposition, rocking you out softly. You don't realize it, but you've just sat through a ten minute piece, yet, curiously, your Yes albums are safely packed away in the garage. Settled in, you prepare to enjoy the rest, but give us What's Next To the Moon's "Rock and Roll Singer" over riff copycat "The Light" any day. Jeez. It's only the second track on the album, and we're already beginning to dread that we'll be wishing for more covers by the end of the set. "Lucky Man" does it's best, god bless it. A strong track, yet ephemeral. April hits a strange stride in it's center with the minimalistic Heron Blue", showing off SKM's guitar multi-tracking mastery.

We loved the simple density of "Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes" from the previous album, which "Moorestown" does a wonderful job of emulating and building upon, a comfortable intermission that had us at peace. A peace that went undisturbed through the inoffensive, rather bland second act. Multiple listens and we still couldn't develop a desire to hear snoozers "Like The River" or the sprawling, 10-minute long "Tonight in Bilbao" more than we had to for the purposes of journalism. The final track, "Blue Orchids," is another wonderful, Spanish guitar-heavy piece, again showing off Kozelek's nimble fingers. Steve Howe had better watch his back. But just like the diehard fans of the ex-Yesman that rushed to pick up copies of his solo work, all but the devoted should keep this disc at a distance and start at the beginning, lest they get the wrong idea about the Koz.

The other reviews have been much kinder. Judge for yourself with a listen on his MySpace page.

I saw him a couple of years ago at The Ram's Head in Annapolis, and although he was a little put off by the dinner theater setup he sounded amazing. He's on tour and definitely worth catching. Here's an NPR story worth checking out.