SUN KIL MOON
Ghosts of the Great Highway (Jet Set Records)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz

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The first thing you recognize on Sun Kil Moon's album Ghosts of the Great Highway is its striking cover photo of a girl's eyes in sepia tone, the kind that bore holes in the places most of us walk around, defending vehemently; then you put the disc on, and the second thing you can't help but recognize is that Mark Kozelek is speaking directly from those holes. With a falsetto harkening images of Neil Young, Kozelek infuses the band's debut album with a mannered morose quality. He delivers dignified heart ache, the songs some of the most tender I've heard. Confidently he avoids a lost lover's tendency to proselytize.

But while Ghosts of the Great Highway possesses a bushel full of astounding songs, it isn't a perfect record by any stretch. It is schizophrenic; it wanders from its winning formula, and one can't help but wonder why. The opening songs "Glenn Tipton" and "Carry Me Ohio" you might give prominent place on a mix CD for a reconciliation weekend. They're earthy and erotic, gripping the sensation of loss one last time before vanishing. Much of the album goes on like that, but inserted, seemingly at random, are what sound like lost Soundgarden songs. In another context, I might like them, but they break the mood. I feel like someone turned the light on at the wrong moment, a feeling that doesn't keep a CD on heavy rotation.

Fortunately, Ghosts of the Great Highway redeems itself again and again. Kozelek is a rare songwriter that is far too talented to deny. Like Neil Young before him, even his most misguided experiments do not detract from his rare human understanding.

© 2004 - Erick Mertz