Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises

Sun Kil Moon
Admiral Fell Promises
2010 Caldo Verde

Mark Kozelek, the driving force (and perhaps the only force) behind Sun Kil Moon, began his music career in earnest as a member of the band Red House Painters. That band released several albums over the course of a decade or so until they split in 2001, and since then, Kozelek has been releasing a string of albums under both his own name and the Sun Kil Moon moniker. Admiral Fell Promises is the fourth album to bear the Sun Kil Moon name, following the fantastic Ghosts of the Great Highway (2003), Tiny Cities (2005) and April (2008) albums.

Kozelek’s lyrics are perhaps the main attraction to his music. He’s a very literal wordsmith. His music is soaked in nostalgia; most Kozelek songs, Sun Kil Moon or otherwise, concern remembrances of particular people and places. Kozelek is brilliant at bringing the listener to these places and painting an image with his words. The music acts as a solvent for those words, allowing us to glide through Kozelek’s thoughts and feelings seamlessly.

Though most of Kozelek’s output follows the same trajectory, most of his albums will erupt in a cascade of sound at just the right moments to provide some relief from the occasionally heavy melancholic nostalgia. Admiral Fell Promises is much more straightforward than Sun Kil Moon’s previous albums, opting for perennial sparseness and lightness and eschewing the more rocking elements of the previous records. Beautiful guitar work and strong lyrics abound, but Admiral Fell Promises doesn’t pack the punch of Sun Kil Moon’s earlier work and can’t match the otherworldly heights of those albums.

We start with “Ålesund”, a very pretty song with a simple acoustic guitar complimenting Kozelek’s haunted voice. All songs on Admiral Fell Promises consist of Kozelek and his acoustic guitar, which makes this sound more like an exercise in classical guitar than a rock record. Any type of percussion is rare and the music is rarely punched up, relying on Kozelek’s powerful vocals and force of will to push songs over the top.

The album continues with a number of nice, thoughtful songs, all providing enjoyable listens but never deviating from the mean or powering their way out of the speakers. The album’s fourth track, “Third And Seneca”, is the first to command attention, starting light but eventually picking up and changing tempo and sound, providing the album with a needed shift. Kozelek sings about the view from his apartment window and thinks about the places he’s been in illuminating simplicity:

Seattle black, Alaska blue
Oregon gray, raincloud Vancouver
Dead in Denver, drowsy Idaho
Just dreams away from your love, San Francisco

Sometimes songs go the other way, which also works well. “The Leaning Tree” starts softly, but morphs into a somber acoustic soundscape without resorting to a jarring transition. Songs continue to flow nicely into one another, each beautiful but largely lacking impression. Admiral Fell Promises is almost boringly beautiful, because Kozelek makes every song sound so nice and it seems so easy for him to write them. One nice thing about Kozelek is this effortlessness. Kozelek and Sun Kil Moon might be revelatory for people who like to slow down, take their time, and look around every now and then. Kozelek isn’t in a rush, and he’s one of the few songwriters with the innate ability to transfer this spirit into his music and have it make sense.

Despite the collection of good songs and the cohesion between them, Admiral Fell Promises can’t help but feel like a slight disappointment based on Sun Kil Moon’s previous, absolutely brilliant output. Where the three previous Sun Kil Moon records were dynamic and different, Admiral Fell Promises doesn’t take any chances and doesn’t stray far from its melancholy classical acoustic core. The lyrics remain top notch, but the album lacks the strength to make them as vibrant as they should be. This album is certainly a worthy endeavor, but one that might cause some lapses in concentration while listening to it.

B.

John Lacey

The Random Ten #19

#1) Wilco – “I Must Be High” – A.M. (1995)

“I Must Be High” is the first song from Wilco’s first album, A.M. On A.M., Wilco had not yet progressed into the atmospheric, droning rock they would later become famous for. There would be elements of those strange places Wilco would boldly go on their second album, Being There (1996), and their experimental pop-rock would become fully fledged with the Summerteeth album (1999).

There’s nothing on “I Must Be High” or A.M. in general that indicates that Wilco would head in that direction. It’s mostly straightforward country-influenced pop rock, not differing a great deal from what lead singer and guitarist Jeff Tweedy and his other Wilco band mates at the time had been doing with previous band Uncle Tupelo. Much of A.M. could be considered bland in light of Wilco’s later work, but there’s a lot to like, including “I Must Be High”. It’s a solid pop song, and is perhaps the strongest track from an album that showcases a new band trying to find its footing and starting off by playing what they know.

#2) The Jayhawks – “Ain’t No End” – Blue Earth (1989)

We’ve covered the Jayhawks here a few times before, and each time I hear them I always enjoy the experience but then never follow up by continuing to listen to their material. Whereas a lot of their songs can be called bluegrass-infused alt-country, “Ain’t No End” is more reminiscent of Neil Young in terms of guitar work. It’s a more grungy sound; not as clean as a lot of what I’ve heard from them previously. Usually, dirty alt-country is solid, but “Ain’t No End” doesn’t have any surprises or rewards within it. It’s just a nice boozy rock song, which is perfectly acceptable.

#3) Ryan Adams – “Come Pick Me Up” – Heartbreaker (2000)

I don’t think Ryan Adams has the capacity to write an unpleasant song. Pretty much every song I’ve ever heard from the guy is competent and enjoyable, even though he’s often writing about horrific break-ups or unrequited love or various other maudlin topics.

Adams has a way of writing about love and relationships in a way that sounds corny on the surface, but works because of the music surrounding those words. On “Come Pick Me Up”, he pleads for the object of his affection to “steal his records”, because even that type of relationship with this girl would be better than none at all. What sounds lame actually comes across sounding poignant, helped in no small part by a great harmonica section that pushes the song over the top.

#4) Pink Floyd – “Stop” – The Wall (1979)

“Stop” is a 29 second interstitial piano piece on side four of Pink Floyd’s opus The Wall, sandwiched between “Waiting For The Worms” and “The Trial”. It’s meant to push the story of the album forward, and really isn’t much of a song on its own. It’s too brief to be noteworthy.

#5) Beck – “Ramshackle” – Odelay (1996)

You can’t say Odelay was Beck’s breakthrough album, because he’s been on the charts pretty much since day one with “Loser” from the Mellow Gold album (1994). Odelay was the album, however, that proved Beck was not a fluke, spawning several hit singles and selling millions of copies.

“Ramshackle” is a light guitar driven song that is a noticeable departure from some of the busy, electronic singles that made Odelay such a success. “Ramshackle” is a definite harbinger that Beck would change his style significantly in the near future, shifting over to minimalistic guitar-based pop on Mutations (1998) and the brilliant Sea Change (2002). What remains interesting about Beck is that his sound is so unmistakable, whether the song is raucous and rambunctious or slow and introspective. He shines through his material, no matter what type of music he’s playing, which is a strong credit to him. He also usually writes really good songs.

#6) Sebadoh – “Sickles And Hammers” – III (1991)

Sebadoh are purveyors of fast paced garage-indie, and their catalog largely consists of songs that last no longer than a minute. Sometimes this is a blessing, because some of these songs consist of nothing more than abrasive noise that could hardly be considered songs at all. Other times, however, Sebadoh strikes a pleasurable chord, and the short length of their songs is more of a frustration. “Sickles And Hammers”, from the band’s much lauded third album III, is fifty seconds of blazing electric guitar and drumming. Like most of their output, it’s very raw, but that sound is a great match for this kind of material. If only it were longer.

#7) Beastie Boys – “Namasté” – Check Your Head (1992)

Some people love the Beastie Boys and consider them to be their favorite band. They’ve always been more of a curiosity to me than a necessity. I was first introduced to them through my older sister, and I heard their string of big radio hits, but I’ve wondered for a while what it is about their music that speaks to so many people.

“Namasté” is not a “stereotypical” fun/raunchy Beastie Boys song. It’s more of a jazz-funk fusion beat, with spoken narration in lieu of rapping. It incorporates psychedelic elements (echoes and other effects), and though it was unexpected, “Namasté” is quite a pleasant listen.

#8) Zero 7 – “Futures” – The Garden (2006)

Zero 7’s The Garden album includes all sorts of different styles, with some sprawling electronic epics and some songs that tone down the machine-made effects and take a more traditional approach. “Futures” has an excellent melody, with simple acoustic guitar, a great bassline, and sprinkles of electronic elements. The vocal harmonies conjure images of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, which end up fitting the music well even though they sound out of place. This is interesting and quite good.

#9) Radiohead – “Prove Yourself” – Pablo Honey (1993)

“Prove Yourself” is a song from Radiohead’s debut album, which gained them worldwide exposure, but not quite the cartoonish super-exposure that would follow with their subsequent albums. Though I really enjoy Radiohead’s atmospheric and electronic work on their more famous records, they were once a really good pop rock act, as “Prove Yourself” shows.

The song is charmingly 90’s sounding, going through the standard verse-chorus-verse-solo convention, but it is really catchy and good. For Radiohead fans that are unfamiliar with their early work, this is well worth checking out.

#10) Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Naked In The Rain” – Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)

I remain of the opinion that Blood Sugar Sex Magik is one of the best albums of the 90s. It contained singles that could be played on both rock and top 40 radio, and a number of unheralded songs that glued the whole thing together. “Naked In The Rain” has the classic Chili Peppers sound, with Anthony Kiedis singing like a wild man and Flea moving the song along with one of his trademark funk basslines, all linked together by a simple and strong chorus. It shows how good the album is that this song was unable to stand out among all of the other great songs on it. Highly recommended.

John Lacey