Artist bio

See also: Sun Kil Moon

Mark Kozelek is a tough guy to figure out, what with his dual skill crafting painfully personal narratives and his penchant for un-ironically reinterpreting material by such mainstream rock forefathers as John Denver, AC/DC, and Kiss. Luckily, there’s no shortage of opportunity for amateur psychoanalysis on the records he makes as the leader of Red House Painters, a rock combo known equally for Kozelek's lacerating lyrics as for its sparse, guitar-driven epics. A series of mid-'90s albums on 4AD (including two distinct 1993 self-titled releases) made underground favorites out of the Painters and such like-minded acts as Low and Codeine, thanks to a modern spin on classic influences such as Nick Drake and Simon & Garfunkel. Contractual wrangling silenced the group from 1996-2001 until Sub Pop finally released the long-since-completed Old Ramon, which sports some of the Painters' finest work to date. Kozelek has also made forays into acting ("Almost Famous") and recorded solo, including What's Next To The Moon, a largely acoustic EP of AC/DC covers.

Albums by this artist

Old Ramon (Recommended) (2001)

Songs For A Blue Guitar (1996)

Red House Painters

Old Ramon

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» PIERO SCARUFFI | STAFF WRITER

NATN Recommended Red House Painters Old Ramon Sub Pop, 2001 RiYL: Neil Young, John Denver, Low, Early Day Miners

Red House Painters' long-delayed Old Ramon, recorded some three years ago and tied up in record company limbo since then, nevertheless finds the San Francisco-based band in top form and mercurial frontman Mark Kozelek in an existentially adult mood. In keeping with the past, seven of the 10 tracks run well past the six-minute mark. But unlike past efforts, the songs don't over stay their welcome, evoking more smile-enducing moments than one would come to expect from RHP.

The album's absorbed compositions surround their insinuating melodies with a magical, fantastic atmosphere, lending the music an almost spiritual quality. The Indian-tinged lullaby "Wop-A-Din-Din" (with a female chorus straight from the Pacific islands) recalls Kevin Ayers' imaginary-exotic vignettes, while the ecstatic vocal tone and dilated guitar licks of "Void" (stretched over nine minutes) resemble the psychedelic psalms of David Crosby's "If I Could Only Remember My Name." Another nine-minute confession, "Cruiser," proceeds at a slow, country pace while the guitars jingle a free-form shuffle, the whole sounding like a cross between Neil Young and Tim Buckley. Eleven minutes of "River" present the same pattern in a more electric format, crackling guitars lulling the singer's elongated wail at a skewed waltz tempo, thereby bridging the gap between confessional auteurs and Nirvana's lyrical grunge.

But, no matter how many references to the classics creep into the cartilage and corrupt the skeleton, the flesh is uniquely Kozelek, romantic and dreamy in an almost frightening manner, stinking of metaphysical and personal insecurity, rotting inside while it looks healthy outside. Kozelek was deeply shaken by John Denver's death, and at least two of the simpler, catchier songs remind us of the sweet country folk singer: "Michigan" and "Golden."

The contrast with the lengthier, tortured pieces couldn't be starker. The band rocks hard in the bass-heavy "Byrd Joel," while Kozelek weaves his hypnotic mantra in the distorted, syncopated, Rolling Stones-inspired boogie of "Between Days," as if to prove the band knows how to.

Overall, the mood is far less depressed than on RHP's earlier albums, the landscape has added colors to the black and white silhouettes of their beginnings. If some of the "poetry" has been lost, and the message is not as deep as it used to be, the group's musical skills are just beginning to bloom. In essence, the Red House Painters have finally become more musicians than mere creators of scenery.

PIERO SCARUFFI | Piero Scaruffi runs the exhaustive music database Scaruffi.com. A native of Italy, he has also been praised for his work on the General Theory of Relativity, formal theories of the mind, and artificial intelligence. And no, we aren't making that up.