release date: Sep. 14, 1992
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: non-produced (Red House Painters recordings)
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA
Tracklist: 1. "24" - 2. "Medicine Bottle" - 3. "Down Colorful Hill" (4 / 5) - 4. "Japanese to English" - 5. "Lord Kill the Pain" - 6. "Michael"
Studio album debut by American quartet Red House Painters consisting of songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Mark Kozelek, guitarist Gordon Mack, bassist Jerry Vessel and drummer Anthony Koutsos released on the British label 4AD Records.
This is a 6-track album / ep without actual production credits. Fact is, it's practically only the demo-recordings by Red House Painters, which has been mixed by 4AD supervisors, Ivo Watts-Russell and John Fryer. All tracks are credited Mark Kozelek, and like its successor from 1993, it's characterized by a shoegaze or dream pop sound familiar to many other releases on 4AD Records.
This is a more introvert and dark album compared to most other albums by the band, and it also contains styles that may seem a bit confusing. The tracks "Lord Kill the Pain" and partly "Michael" sounds like copies of some tracks by The Smiths, which is far from the rest. Having said that, this is highly recommendable, and a great debut.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
