Mark Kozolek, the mastermind behind Sun Kil Moon, has a history of making interesting musical choices. Back when he was in the early-‘90s group Red House Painters, he orchestrated acoustic covers of ‘70s rock songs like Kiss’ “Shock Me” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer” by AC/DC. Then after the dissolution of Red House Painters and a number of solo recordings, Kozolek formed Sun Kil Moon (named for Sung Kil-Moon, a Korean boxer) and released Ghosts of the Great Highway, which was essentially an album about various dead boxers. Their second album was a collection of Modest Mouse covers. Along the way, Kozolek has appeared in Almost Famous as Stillwater’s bass player and in the children’s show Yo Gabba Gabba! as…Mark Kozolek. Now Sun Kil Moon is on their fourth LP, Admiral Fell Promises. It’s been a long strange trip.
Okay, the word ‘nuanced’ is absolutely 100% one of the most overused words in reviews, but it’s the first one that comes to mind for Admiral Fell Promises. Kozolek is so in control of everything about this album: the subtle, exquisite vocals, the fingerpicked acoustic guitars, the hushed harmonies. It is the polar opposite of every party-starting, glitter-speckled, take-off-your-pants-and-do-some-Ecstasy electro album that regularly crashes into our ears. No bones about it, Sun Kil Moon are presently a fully acoustic, fully mellow, fully muted and complex act, a quiet act, not a riot act.
“Alesund” opens with classical-style acoustic guitar picking and settles into a soft, achingly pretty melody, along with some seriously self-effacing lyrics: “No this is not my guitar/I’m bringing it to a friend/And no I don’t sing/I’m only humming along.” C’mon Mark! You’ve been doing this for twenty years, give yourself a little credit! The sheer complexity and intricacy of the instrumentation is impressive; some of the guitar work is reminiscent of the multipart harp plucking on any one of Joanna Newsom’s efforts. The effect is a feeling of maturity, even ancient-ness. Songs like “Half Moon Bay” and “Third And Seneca” have the feeling of epic poetry – their seven-minute lengths add to this feeling – and the general vibe is smooth and quiet, yet surprisingly sturdy and always solidly constructed.
“Sam Wong Hotel” smoothly slips from minor to major keys, and the guitar picking ebbs and flows like an ocean tide, which mimics the imagery and the setting, as Kozolek sits “under a long palm tree” while “seagulls dip and sway over the mossy rocks.” The strongest song is the title track, a short and sweet love song (“Come out from the burning fire, butterfly/Let me lock you in my room and keep you for a while”) with a subtle sinister edge: “If you go tomorrow, choke me ‘til I’m blue.”
The bad news? The mellowness of Admiral Fell Promises is such that it’s almost too easy to let the songs blend together without any sense of distinction. Maybe the sound is a little too monolithic, and maybe the transitions are a little too smooth. Not a terrible complaint for an album (better to be too smooth than too grating) but Kozolek could do with giving us a few more landmarks to return to. With the absence of any other Sun Kil Moon band members, Kozolek has to keep us entertained on his own, and the flourish of extra instrumentation and drums is missed, but only occasionally. This album is still impressive for its feats of musical skill and atmospheric beauty.
Track List:
1. Alesund
2. Half Moon Bay
3. Sam Wong Hotel
4. Third And Seneca
5. You Are My Sun
6. Admiral Fell Promises
7. The Leaning Tree
8. Australian Winter
9. Church Of The Pines
10. Bay Of Skulls
