release date: Nov. 4, 2005
format: cd (CV001)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]
producer: Mark Kozelek
label: Caldo Verde Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Exit Does Not Exist" - 2. "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" - 3. "Neverending Math Equation" - 4. "Space Travel Is Boring" - 6. "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child" - 8. "Grey Ice Water" - 9. "Convenient Parking" - 10. "Trucker's Atlas" - 11. "Ocean Breathes Salty"
2nd studio album by Sun Kil Moon is the band's first to be released on the newly-founded record label, Caldo Verde founded by Mark Kozelek - and the release is issued with the identification number CV001. The music is closely related to the debut Ghost of the Great Highway (2003) BUT this is like most of lead vocalist Mark Kozelek's other albums - either as pure solo artist or with Red House Painters - mostly alt. folk and singer / songwriter material without the characteristics of folk rock with electrified guitars, thus being more acoustic-founded and by some referred to as an example of 'slow core'. Also, on this Kozelek has taken up his "tradition" of re-arranging other artists' compositions into his own alt-folk and singer / songwriter-styled songs. All songs here are originally composed and performed by American indie rock band, Modest Mouse. The title is a derivation from track #2 taken from the album The Moon & Antarctica (2000).
Now, this is far from bad, and it really contains some fine ballads and arrangements and it's a bit of a task to pin out the best tracks here 'cause it all sounds like one whole. It's amazing how Kozelek is capable of making these songs sound so much like his own. It does bear much in common with other releases by "Kozelek and Co", however, all other and successive albums under the name of Sun Kil Moon are reserved to material written by Kozelek, and in that sense this is an exception.
Recommended.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, 👎Rolling Stone 2,5 / 5 stars ]
