Suburban
Speed

by: Jonathan Greer

Who would swap places with Mark Kozelek? He is an immensely skilled songwriter and interpreter of songs, leader of the great Red House Painters and the various incarnations of Sun Kil Moon, blessed with a drive to release as much music as possible. He is a complex character though, and for the last twenty years he has been slowly building up this annoying, self-obsessed side, prone to grumpiness and throwing insults - an aspect which contrasts so much with the empathetic voice of much of his songwriting.

For the past four years, since the excellent Amongst the Leaves, he has focused the spotlight on his everyday life, sometimes in hugely self-indulgent detail. If you've heard the many albums which he has released since then you will know about the specific deaths of some family and friends, what music he has been listening to, some of the more negative places he has been on tour, and you will marvel at how much boxing he watches on tv. The songs have become a sprawling diary entry, and the level of self-indulgence can put some people off.

So we have another new album now, and although the lyrics remain deeply embedded in his personal life, he has concentrated his focus on his girlfriend Caroline and the other important people who are still in his life. If the much acclaimed Benji was an album about life and death, this is an album (mostly) about love.

The musical landscape has changed too, as this is the collaborative recording Kozelek has made with Jesu aka Justin Broadrick, a name known to most as the founder of the seminal British noise band Godflesh. Sun Kil Moon completists would have known this was coming as it was mentioned on the song 'The Possum' from the previous album Universal Themes (and the title track of Kozelek's recent covers album Like Rats is a Godflesh song). Those expecting the album to be a bit darker and heavier because of Broadrick's presence will be pleased by the first two tracks, which carry on from the noisier tracks on Universal Themes. Opening track 'Good Morning My Love' sets the tone with a great wall of guitar sound and the narrator musing about the nature of his relationship with Caroline - "what does rekindle mean?" he asks over and over.

'A Song of Shadows' which is built on a gentle fugue-like keyboard melody is the clearest expression of what matters to him. He admits that he is a bit of a mess and states that the only thing that matters is "just how much you mean, and how deeply I love you."

'Fragile' is a tender acoustic piece named after the Yes album, which manages to tie together the death of Mark's childhood friend Christopher and that of Yes bassist Chris Squire, and also references his own cover of Squire's lovely song 'Onward' and his experience in recording it for the recent film Youth. As anecdotes go this is a good one and I particularly liked the bit about Steve Shelley falling asleep.

'Exodus' is beautiful but slightly uncomfortable, as it is an ode to bereaved parents triggered by the tragic accident that happened to Nick Cave's son Arthur. The chorus of voices is lovely and it works - hardly surprising as it is made up of Alan and Mimi from Low, and Rachel from Slowdive.

Where Jesu/ Sun Kil Moon falls down is on the two largely spoken tracks. On “Last Night I Rocked the Room Like Elvis and Had Them Laughing Like Richard Pryor” he reads a gushing fan letter from a fan in Singapore (promising a 25% cut of the songwriting money as well) and on 'America’s Most Wanted Mark Kozelek' he reads a glowing message from a pregnant British women, seemingly to deflect from his appalling and well documented comments about a female journalist at the Barbican last year.

Over the years the strongest records which Kozelek has made have had beautiful, affecting and powerful music. His words, when concise, often added to this, but in recent years the information overload contained in the lyrics has only served to dilute the overall effect. When the music is strong enough he does not need these trip-advisor-style testimonials and I hope that's not a road he is going to go down. Apart from those interludes, Jesu/ Sun Kil Moon is another intriguing release from this most puzzling of characters.