Mark Kozelek has had a wide career. First he was the frontman for the slow burning group Red House Painters, then he moved to a solo career, and currently is the leader of Sun Kil Moon, which is not vastly different from his RHP material. This, the second album, is a full reinterpretation of eleven Modest Mouse songs, done in his distinctive style. Ironically, it's a better album than Ghosts Of The Great Highway, which suffered from being too indulgent (Did we need a 15 minute epic about some boxer or something in the middle of the album? Or two tracks with different names but they're the exact same song?).

The style of the band is a slow burn folk/pop sound with Kozelek's highly emotive voice. His voice, though it sounds like he is singing with a mouth full of marbles at times, is not a distraction from the songs, which are slowed down to bring the melody and lyrics to the forefront. Most times, the results are very positive.

Exit Does Not Exist starts things off with a sparse guitar riff. The lyrics are abstract and few, but seem to deal with memory. The song is less than a minute and a half long, and as a result, ends before you really have a chance to get into the song. It kind of fades out without doing much.

Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes has been slowed down to just guitar and vocals. This is a pretty good interpretation, though some parts, like the lyrics referencing Coca-Cola, sound odd when set to such a pretty backdrop. The riff starts to get a little repetitive by the end, but it's not bad.

Neverending Math Equation takes things a step up. It sounds like it's in an odd time signature, and it's not terribly different from the original, except a little slower and easier to listen to. There are actual drums to drive along the simple guitar part. He wisely keeps this one short, since it would get very old if it was too long, but it's just long enough. Just before ending, the time signature changes as everything but the guitar drops away and the music changes to a bouncy little riff to fade out.

Space Travel Is Boring is the obvious track that improves on the original. What was originally a short, jarring song has been turned into a slow, swaying song that brings out the clever lyrics relating the vacuum of space to loneliness. Some strings are floating around in the background, but they never feel obnoxious or manipulative. The end chorus is repetitive, but the music varies enough to keep it from getting old.

Dramamine starts off with a simple riff for the first verse before the drums and guitar counter melodies come in. The song quickly goes through the cryptic lyrics and ends with a long instrumental jam. And then it fades.

Jesus Christ Was An Only Child is a giant misstep. the song is dull. It also suffers from the problem that Exit... suffered from, it ends before making any real impression, except the earlier song was one that didn't feel longer than it was and had an interesting melody.

Now we're more than halfway through the album. It's a short one, most of the tracks are under three minutes, but that's good thing, in this case.

Four Fingered Fisherman has a pretty guitar riff and a catchy melody. I haven't heard the original, so I don't know how this compares, but it's a good song in its' own right. the song evokes a feeling of driving in winter, sleeping in the backseat, and it's very peaceful. Certainly one of my favorites off of this album.

Grey Ice Water takes us to another wintry place, telling us the story about a man who works in Alaska, or something. The percussion on this song is interesting, as it sounds like there's rattles countering the drumbeat, which is nice. Again, haven't heard the original, so I don't know how it compares. There's a nice guitar solo here, I want to say it has a flamenco feel. Then the song ends kind of abruptly.

Convenient Parking has an almost eastern feel to its' riff, and certainly during the chorus. Mark delivers the lines in a rapid fire way that is quite interesting to hear. This is the third song to be under two minutes, but unlike the others, it's pulled off well, leaving an impression and not being boring.

Trucker's Atlas is shortened from over ten minutes in the original version to under three minutes. This improves the song greatly, since there's no five minutes of the same sounds again and again. The song is also stripped down to guitar and vocals, like most of the album. It's rather upbeat, giving us a story about a man traveling based on an atlas he bought, and is going to see the country using it.

Ocean Breathes Salty closes things on a quiet note. Where the original was an upbeat rock song, this is a slow, stripped down folk song. If you ask me, it brings out the beauty of the melody and the lyrics better than the original. It's fairly straightforward from there, using the same quiet method throughout the song, without getting old.

In the end, this album is well worth checking out, though I recommend also going to check out Modest Mouse. Maybe in the future we can just get a proper collaboration between the two. I'd buy that album, with two great lyricists working together like that.



Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving