Singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek knows the route to the soul starts at the pen—just don’t ask him to find the words to tell you how or why. “Songwriting is something I’ve always had a difficult time talking about,” the 41-year-old SF resident and frontman for Sun Kil Moon admits, citing his remedial-reading classification in high school as further evidence that the writing thing is a bit of a mystical development, even to him. Though Kozelek may be reticent to elaborate (he’s turned down invitations to speak on songwriting panels at such music conferences as CMJ and SXSW), his band’s new album, April, confirms he is more than happy to get personal.
Featuring cameos by Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and indie-folk singer Bonnie “Prince” Billy, April marks Kozelek’s first album of new material since 2003’s much-lauded Ghosts of the Great Highway. Which is not to say he hasn’t been busy. In his “down” time, Kozelek has grown his record label, Caldo Verde; added a bit part in Shopgirl to his IMDb profile (which also contains cinematic turns in Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky); and expanded his cult following via a Modest Mouse cover album titled Tiny Cities. That last album introduced him to an audience who, if intrepid, then hunted down the seven albums he had recorded previously with his band (under the moniker Red House Painters), as well as the supplementary cover work he’s logged—folky interpretations of AC/DC and John Denver. “Cover songs are a way of getting away from the ‘me’ of it all. It’s a great way of cleansing the palate,” Kozelek says. “It is my interpretation, but it’s always somebody else’s work. As much as I turn it into my own thing, it’s not as rewarding.”
Which brings us back to April. From the sweet finger plucking of “Harper Road,” a song that pays homage to his girlfriend’s mom’s battle with cancer, to “Tonight in Bilbao,” a mesmerizing mediation on homesickness that cradles you with lulling drums, April is overflowing with acoustic introspection. “I had to get some perspective on some heavy things,” Kozelek says. That perspective finds expression in ballads recalling Gordon Lightfoot and melodic jams reminiscent of Jeff Buckley. Kozelek isn’t afraid to do his share of heartstring-tugging, even if that means drumming up memories that have lain dormant for years. “That’s how songwriting works sometimes—songs sneak up on you,” he notes in the preface of his new lyric book, Nights of Passed Over, before offering his own final word on the mystery of the artistic process: “Like a stray cat … songs appear when they appear. I can’t plan them, I can’t avoid them and sometimes, I can’t explain them.”
Singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek knows the route to the soul starts at the pen—just don’t ask him to find the words to tell you how or why. “Songwriting is something I’ve always had a difficult time talking about,” the 41-year-old SF resident and frontman for Sun Kil Moon admits, citing his remedial-reading classification in high school as further evidence that the writing thing is a bit of a mystical development, even to him. Though Kozelek may be reticent to elaborate (he’s turned down invitations to speak on songwriting panels at such music conferences as CMJ and SXSW), his band’s new album, April, confirms he is more than happy to get personal.
Featuring cameos by Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and indie-folk singer Bonnie “Prince” Billy, April marks Kozelek’s first album of new material since 2003’s much-lauded Ghosts of the Great Highway. Which is not to say he hasn’t been busy. In his “down” time, Kozelek has grown his record label, Caldo Verde; added a bit part in Shopgirl to his IMDb profile (which also contains cinematic turns in Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky); and expanded his cult following via a Modest Mouse cover album titled Tiny Cities. That last album introduced him to an audience who, if intrepid, then hunted down the seven albums he had recorded previously with his band (under the moniker Red House Painters), as well as the supplementary cover work he’s logged—folky interpretations of AC/DC and John Denver. “Cover songs are a way of getting away from the ‘me’ of it all. It’s a great way of cleansing the palate,” Kozelek says. “It is my interpretation, but it’s always somebody else’s work. As much as I turn it into my own thing, it’s not as rewarding.”
Which brings us back to April. From the sweet finger plucking of “Harper Road,” a song that pays homage to his girlfriend’s mom’s battle with cancer, to “Tonight in Bilbao,” a mesmerizing mediation on homesickness that cradles you with lulling drums, April is overflowing with acoustic introspection. “I had to get some perspective on some heavy things,” Kozelek says. That perspective finds expression in ballads recalling Gordon Lightfoot and melodic jams reminiscent of Jeff Buckley. Kozelek isn’t afraid to do his share of heartstring-tugging, even if that means drumming up memories that have lain dormant for years. “That’s how songwriting works sometimes—songs sneak up on you,” he notes in the preface of his new lyric book, Nights of Passed Over, before offering his own final word on the mystery of the artistic process: “Like a stray cat … songs appear when they appear. I can’t plan them, I can’t avoid them and sometimes, I can’t explain them.”
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