release date: Apr. 10, 2001
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Mark Kozelek
label: Sub Pop Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 2. "Byrd Joel" - 3. "Void" - 4. "Between Days" - 5. "Cruiser" (4 / 5) - 7. "River" - 8. "Smokey" - 10. "Kavita"
6th and final studio album by Red House Painters in a new line-up after guitarist Gordon Mack left the band in '95. Here the band consists of songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Mark Kozelek, new guitarist Phil Carney (former guitarist of Indian Bingo), bassist Jerry Vessel and drummer Anthony Koutsos.
The album was actually recorded three years earlier but due to a merging of labels the band stood without a record contract, and not until Mark Kozelek succeeded in purchasing the recordings of the album, he managed to finally release it on the American label, Sub Pop. All tracks are credited Kozelek and they're typical of his style a combination of alt. folk and singer / songwriter.
Some tracks point to what was to become one of Kozelek's most praised albums - my absolute favourite by Kozelek - the Sun Kil Moon debut album Ghosts of the Great Highway (2003) and as a Red House Painter's album it's quite light-hearted.
Red House Painters dissolved in early 2001, or actually morphed into a new band with primarily Kozelek but also Carney, Vessel and Koutsos taking part in the formation of Sun Kil Moon.
[ allmusic.com, NME 4 / 5 stars ]
