Sun Kil Moon -- April

woo hoo!

i was JUST thinking to myself last week, when the HELL is dude gonna put something out? now i know. cheers! can't wait.

Really digging this 'Moorestown' track - Mark's singing and guitar just takes you right there to his mindset.

oooh... tasty...

I haven't really liked the bulk of his post-RHP output, but I'll check this out regardless

I've tried, but I just can't get into this guy. Too much mumbling. Although Salvador Sanchez is a great song.

i like ghosts a bunch and have no real use for red house painters. i'm worried that ghosts will be a one of a kind deal. he was bitching up a storm when i saw him here in madison a year or so ago about how he's all sick of performing and touring. it seemed like it was tongue-in-cheek until he yelled at some lady for taking a cell phone photo of him. it's one night, sure, but i'd never seen any performer i expected something great from be such a brat. maybe will oldham will bring out the best in him again, who knows

Yeah, I've read (in the NYT, maybe?) that he can be really abrasive and mean.

kozelek has always been slightly abrasive, since way back in the mid-90's, that's nothing new. It's funny that Oldham is on a few of these songs since Koz basically mimicked him on a few tracks on "ghosts".

anyway I'm sure the album will be great.

but this comment i like ghosts a bunch and have no real use for red house painters. is weird to me since I don't make any distinction b/w them, and neither did kozelek when he started making the album; the name change came partly because he thought it would help in marketing.

FWIW, I do like the name Sun Kil Moon better than RHP. Weird. I must be under a shrewd marketing spell.

funny what a name and different packaging will do! there are more RHP members on this than there are on 'songs for a blue guitar' (which had no-one but kozelek). I don't know who played on the new album though. I do know it was recorded at Tiny Telephone in SF because we tried to book a studio there the same week and could not.

maybe he changed his frame of mind more than he let on. the red house painters bored me whenever i'd buy one of their records based on the interesting covers kozelek chose and their general acclaim, though not enough for me to doubt the reception ghosts got, get it, and be mesmerized first song to last. if the red house painters have songs as crunchy as "lily and parrots" and as epic and awesome as "duk koo kim" i'd like to know what they are. as it is, i think of the other stuff i've heard the way i do tiny cities, nice enough, but nothing special

RHP: Medicine Bottle, Katy Song, Dragonflies, Evil, San Geronimo, Shadows, Have You Forgotten, Make Like Paper, Void, for starters...

"if the red house painters have songs as crunchy as "lily and parrots" and as epic and awesome as "duk koo kim" i'd like to know what they are."

oh man they really did!

I do think that the SKM record has a bunch of the best songs Kozelek ever wrote on it, so I'm not fundamentally disagreeing with you

thanks dudes. i will check those songs out. i'd love to be completely wrong about red house painters

Why are people so obsessed with Katy Song?

cuz it's one of the best rhp songs? but I don't know why people aren't also obsessed with Drop which I like even more

I think Old Ramon is underrated.

Yeah, that record is really good. I don't know why people are not into it.

If you like "Duk Koo Kim", then you'd probably like Old Ramon. Old Ramon covers a lot of the same ground, I think (thematically, musically, etc.)

I saw the fight in which Duk Koo Kim died on tv when I was like ten years old or something. Shit.

Good to hear he's back in action. Ghosts will be hard to follow, though.

old ramon gets dumped on because it took so long to come out, everyone built up unrealistic expectations. it's good but it's not their best, and for some reason we all exepect it to be mindblowing. it does have 'smokey' on it though which is one of my favorite songs

Another for the Old Ramon fans here - it's patchy, but the good songs are some of the best he's ever done; "Void" for fuck's sake!

I'd only heard the version of "Moorestown" on Little Drummer Boy before, so it's great to hear it in full band mode - really lovely. If this record is half as good as Ghosts I will be delighted.

nice

what

heheh DO TELL! Am I excited? HELL NO

</art of sarcasm>

You should be excited. Sun Kil Moon is great.

OK this album.

First listen - highlights are the tracks with Will Oldham on backing vocals but the majestic, epic sweep of _Ghosts_ is missing. Much of _April_ is spare, back to the old RHP style.

I keep trying to download this album but I've only got some of it so far. I listened to the first track though and quit halfway through...what the hell is doing starting the album with a half-assed 9 min. track? He really sounded uninspired and I too thought of old-style RHP. I'll listen to the rest of what I've got tonight, though.

I've never heard a RHP/Koz/SKM album that didn't require a few listens to reveal itself. At first, "Lost Verses," the opening cut, didn't grab me, but put on the headphones and really listen and the melody opens up. Gorgeous.

I'm more mystified at how people hear Ghosts as being different from his other work. Much of his work has an epic sweep to it. Medicine Bottle? Katy Song? Void? And on this one, Tonight the Sky is a motherfucker. I can't find a bum track on it. Some are quieter. But the first three tracks alone give me chills.

But I'm a long time fan of ALL his stuff. But I've heard quite a few people cite Ghosts as being different from the rest of his catalog, so maybe there is a difference I CAN'T hear...

Lost Verses is probably the best song on the album, my favorite anyway; ballsy doing the swtich to electric near the end; the song does sound like RHP (keep in mind that I don't make any distinction b/w SKM and RHP, i'm not sure who played on the new one but RHP were the band on the last SKM album). Otherwise Moorstown is very good; there is some gorgeous acoustic playing on the record as well.

I still don't like Lost Verses...though when he does that switch at the end I'm like "why didn't he do something like this before"? It just drags for me that song, irritating. And he usually doesn't hit me that way, even on those old, ultra-slow, long RHP tracks.

Overall yeah I guess this album is okay...there are some tracks that just out-and-out bore me though. "Tonight The Sky" comes off like a piss-poor 5th generation version of what he was trying to do with "Make Like Paper" only this time he decides to have an interminable guitar solo that is just one note! I mean where's the excuse for that? "Heron Blue" is the highlight of the album for me, I like the medieval style of that and it's not something he's done before.

Hmm, that's my least favorite one, actually. Isn't it more Appalachian than "medieval"?

I never get irritated with those long, long tracks. I think he has a genius for using repetition in a compelling way. And even melodies which upon first listen might seem monotonous, like in Moorestown, or some of the epics on Old Ramon, manage through some alchemy of his voice, lyrics and guitar playing to become seductive and moving.

this album is so much better than old ramon though.

I think the one note guitar solo in Tonight the Sky is his tribute to Like a Hurricane which also had a one note solo. Lyrically it's pretty heavy, too. As a fan of Make Like Paper, I like them both.

I'm on the fence about the electric bit at the end of Lost Verses. It's so poetic up to that point and it feels a bit like a weird cut and paste job. But I reserve judgement since RHP/SKM music takes time to digest. Too early to tell.

I liked Ghosts a great deal. On initial hearings this one is every bit as good. But I hate to say that since it then raises the expectation level and I find that can really bias you against the work. How many movies have I slightly resented because I was told how amazing it was before seeing it, whereas the movie where I walked in not knowing what to expect blew me away...

So, for those of you who haven't yet heard it, April really sucks. No redeeming qualities. You won't like it. In fact, you'll hate it and resent it.

this album is so much better than old ramon though.

Well, I only began listening to Old Ramon a few months ago...I had always put it aside after hearing from a couple of sources that it was not so great. Lately it's been on heavy rotation for me, though. As I mentioned upthread, I think it's a highly underrated record.

But, anyhow, what smurfherder said for the most part regarding expectation, taking time to digest stuff. I'll add, though, that I thought Ghosts was amazing upon my very first listen.

This is the first Sun Kil Moon album I've heard, after coming along very late to the RHP party. I'm really liking this! As someone mentioned upthread, I'm not really too keen on the tacked on electric portion of "Lost Verses" though. I thought the song was just fine without it. I also really like the songs with Will Oldham, his voice works so well with this.

It's a really good, hypnotic record. Nothing on it, so far, has grabbed me as much as Carry Me Ohio did (from Ghosts), but Carry Me Ohio is one of my favorite songs of the decade, so setting that as the bar is a bit unfair to the very solid material on April.

This is really one of the first amazing albums of the year. The playing, songwriting...everything is so well done. As good as any of the classic RHP albums.

On "Moorestown," when he sings, "I slept with her so many nights" and finally changes the melody up by reaching for those higher notes... man that gets me in the best way possible. And as Bimble said upthread about "Heron Blue" being the highlight, I agree. Really, I couldn't say enough good about this.

Another voice for the ayes here, that Koz can get to this stage of his career and still be capable of making such a good record is incredible. April is definitely not as varied in tone or sweeping as Ghosts, but with every listen I'm getting more out of it. Current favourites are the one-two finale of Tonight In Bilbao and Blue Orchids (the finger-picking on the latter is just gorgeous).

Am going to come down heavily in favour of the electric coda for Lost Verses too, when the stereo pan on the guitars kicks in my heart leaps; if anything that's the element of Ghosts that's missing from April, the chugging intertwined electric leads that he does so well.

Any likelihood that they might tour April as a band? The only European shows Koz has done in my memory have all been solo, which is good enough but it would be pretty special to hear Sun Kil Moon live in full band mode...

i look forward to seeing mark/the band? later in the year

'april' is excellent. i could listen to his brand of restrained folk rock all day it seems and never tire

best of 2008 so far for me!

anyone notice how LOUD the cd is? not a big deal or anything. i just always notice when i can't turn my stereo up past the halfway mark without a cd being too loud/distorted.(too loud in an unplayable way. i have no problem with loudness in general.) his voice especially is WAY up there in the mix. i also notice cuz RHP/SKM have always been some of my favorite CDs soundwise.

anyway, i dig the new one! still need to listen more though. i also felt like the electric outro to the first track seemed a bit arbitrary. i haven't listened to the second disc/alternate versions yet either. maybe today.

Hmm, cannot say that I've especially noticed any particularly "hot" mastering on this. Might run it through Audacity later and see what tale the waveform tells.

The alternate versions are a nice extra but not essential - the acoustic take on Tonight In Bilbao is lovely though, and the way the vocal is doubled on the chorus really shines out.

Am going to come down heavily in favour of the electric coda for Lost Verses too, when the stereo pan on the guitars kicks in my heart leaps; if anything that's the element of Ghosts that's missing from April, the chugging intertwined electric leads that he does so well.

This. Would have loved another Lily and Parrots or Salvador Sanchez-style shimmery groover. Great album though.

hot damn, 'tonight the sky' outdoes neil young at his own game. so beautiful
should also be noted that 'tonight in bilbao is the most rhp-esque track on offer here. so much variety to this record

great lyrical premise on the beautiful 'tonight in bilbao'
as a massive fan of roving through europe, i can totally relate. the whole bilbao to barcelona, milan to rome concept really suits the haunting dreaminess of the musical backdrop

though i guess there is nothing on april to top the immediacy and brilliance of a track like 'carry me ohio'. the vocal hook in the chorus on that tune is one of the best i've ever heard.

"April" is really beginning to come together for me now. What an underrated lyricist.

friend at work was just raving to me about this, i need to hear it.

yep. comes with a wholehearted recommendation

yeah it doesn't have the melodic highs of Great Highway or RHP albums, I think compositionally this is a more sprawling and subdued affair. the lyrics here are among the best he's ever written though; and I think in some ways this is the most depressing album he's ever made.

also, this is interesting:

http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/ben_gibbard_talks_to_mark

I'm not sure what happened to his ex-girlfriend (she died, clearly, but he isn't explicit how) but that seems to have really impacted this album

(oh duh, it says 'cancer' right there, missed that)

akm, thanks for posting that link-- great interview.

For me, one of the indisputable highlights of the record is the last part of Blue Orchids. Wow, so gorgeous...

april is definitely deeper on a lyrical level than stuff that's come before it and i'd suggest that that's due in large part to the fact that he's got more to draw upon and more perspective as a consequence of being older and wiser. that's not to say that he hasn't always been an outstanding lyricist - it just seems all the more convincing to me on this record since he seems to have a much more composed way of weighing things up.

i can never find any of his stuff depressing as such. melancholy yes, but always uplifting in some sort of way because i'm able to respond to it so closely and feel enriched by it.

gonna read that interview now!

I know I won't be able to stop playing this for a long time to come..
"Heron Blue" is killing me right now.

yeah I like this album more as time goes on; having loved RHP from way back, this is the first time I've had the experience of not immediately loving a record by him and finding it more of a grower. it's got less hooks but those pieces, like the end of blue orchid, that are very fluid seem to come from a different well.

i really hate it when people talk about RHP as being 'emo' or something, I never ever engaged with that stuff and neither did they, it's a completely different experience. having said that this is probably his most emotional and honest work.

heron blue is really intense; compare it to the version with drums that he didn't use (which is on the 'nights of passed over' cd), it works so much better this way.

Whereupon Bimble proceeds to eat his words...(wouldn't be the first time)

Somewhere in the middle of Moorestown I entered untold realms of musical bliss. Not that the tracks before that had been too shabby by themselves.

Sigh. See....in high school I too was in love with a girl from New Jersey.

why do they call it 'salt water' taffy when it's not salty at all?

Ha! Hell if I know. That's a good question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_water_taffy

wow. this record validates humanity itself. or something.

Exactly.