Review: Sun Kil Moon - April

Posted on 24 September 2008 | 1 Comment

Filed Under: Album Reviews, Folk, Indie Rock

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Mark Kozelek has one of the greatest and most distinctive voices I’ve ever heard. It sounds like nostalgia; like a faded photograph of you and your brothers in the backyard of your childhood home on that old white porch swing where that big oak tree used to stand. It sounds like the warm orange glow of the late afternoon sun on your face; your eyes closed and the smells of the summer evening hanging in the cool breeze. It sounds like that mid-winter red wine buzz juxtaposed with the cold calm moonlit night outside that bites into your skin but can’t quite chill your bones. Kozelek sings like he is woven into the frayed threads of a slowly unraveling American dream.

On their latest album, April, Kozelek’s Sun Kil Moon just meanders in and out of songs until it just sorta feels right. Gentle yet moving melodies feel fragile as if the slightest movement would bring it all tumbling down. Songs are sparsely and generally softly arranged but like his peers in slowcore groups like Low and Ida, Kozelek also isn’t afraid to bring a sharp dissonant noise to the forefront when it is needed. April could be the soundtrack to an early morning drive down a country road. The golden late-season corn on one side of the road and rows of beans on the other all covered in dew and glistening in the light of the rising sun. Everything on April seems like it is near-perfect in placement, pace, and just about everything else.

MP3 | Sun Kil Moon – Moorestown April