Mark Kozelek, ex-moper of Red House Painters and occasional rocker with Sun Kil Moon, has to be one of THE virtuoso guitarists around currently. This live album, available free with any purchase from his record company, Caldo Verde Records, acts as a showcase for Kozelek’s nylon-stringed Spanish guitar.
For the uninitiated, Kozelek made his mark in the early 90s with Red House Painters, whose dark, mournful, literate songs charmed 4AD devotees before stretching out with increasing guitar dexterity, culminating in current solo project in all but name, Sun Kil Moon. Through the last 20 years he has deviated little from his singular vision, mixing plaintive ballads and guitar workouts, evolving to become a modern day Neil Young.
The live recordings, taken from 2 gigs draw mainly from last year’s Admiral Fell Promises album with some of previous album April’s highlights thrown in, along with Red House Painters’ 1993 classic Katy Song. Katy Song is totally recast here as a fragile guitar-picked gem, but the lyrics still resonate (“I know tomorrow you will be somewhere in London, living with someone”).
Most of the album consists of austere finger-picked guitar songs. Three songs in sequence, Australian Winter, Heron Blue and Blue Orchids are utterly jaw-dropping, their melodies a perfect invocation of late afternoon, just before sunset. The guitar picking/plucking/playing is astonishingly good, it’s hard to imagine how he manages this live.
If there is any flaw with this album, it should be noted that there is little variation, throughout, making it either monotonous or consistent. But it’s a great way to hear one of the best American musicians around.
Investigate, and prepare to be smitten.
Killian Laher.
