Massachusetts Daily Collegian

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A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Sun Kil Moon reaches a low point in career with ‘I Also Want to Die in New Orleans’

Mark Kozelek goes free jazz
Photo+from+Rough+Trade+Records+Official+Page
Photo from Rough Trade Records Official Page

Mark Kozelek’s career has been in a state of rapid entropy since 2014’s masterful “Benji.” Kozelek’s no-holds-barred, free associative lyrics were journeys of self-discovery that panned out in real time. Every revelation that he discovered in life’s mundane details was the musical equivalent of reaching into a pile of manure and finding a diamond. Five years and 10 albums later, the heap of crap has become impenetrable. Song lengths have now unraveled into the double digits, the music has slowed down to a sluggish crawl and Kozelek is about as coherent a geriatric bar rat on his 10th drink.

Kozelek’s latest release under the Sun Kil Moon moniker, “I Also Want to Die in New Orleans,” is yet another 90-minute collection of his unstructured, middle-aged ramblings. Kozelek swiped the album’s title from hip hop duo $uicideBoy$, who, in 2018, released their own debut album titled “I Want To Die In New Orleans.” Lyrically, Kozelek treads in familiar territory. He doesn’t trust politicians, is unsure of how to feel about mid-life domesticity and is terrified of mass shootings. The album marks his first collaboration with saxophonist Donny McCaslin and drummer Jim White as they inflect the record with a blend of folk-jazz that moves at a sloth-like pace.

Kozolek tells you a lot of cool and interesting things that happen in his life that will make you say, “Wow, that is really cool and interesting.” Like, for instance, how he thought the sulfuric odor in his woodsy home may have been caused by a gas leak. He got really worried because gas leaks are really bad, but in the end, it just turned out to be a skunk!

Another cool factoid Kozelek wants you to know about himself is that he’s a foodie. On the 12-minute-long song “Cows,” he boldly declares he doesn’t find chicken all that “finger-licking.” But he loves eating bulgogi in New York City’s Koreatown and wouldn’t be surprised if he “died of a heart attack at Felix’s in New Orleans” after treating himself to too many crawfish. He’s also thinking about giving up on cow meat, but couldn’t because it “tastes so good in [his] mom’s chop suey.” In the end, he makes a Borat reference about plows (because ‘plows’ rhymes with ‘cows’) and says, “I’ve run out of thoughts about cows, at least for now.”

On the 23-minute free-jazz odyssey “Bay of Kotor,” Kozelek somewhat controversially asserts that he gets very uncomfortable when he sees a hungry stray animal, then walks around the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro and looks at girls in bikinis on the beach. These vignettes are pointless and amount to nothing.

There’s a special sort of desperation that runs through all of Kozelek’s latest works. He’s stated on past albums that he doesn’t have any idea what he’d do if he couldn’t make music. Music is the only thing he knows. Kozelek also shatters the fourth wall within the album, admitting his songs are really nothing more than “middle-aged ramblings,” and he’ll even admit mid-song that he’s self-conscious about the gargantuan run time.

At the end of the day, Kozelek has surrendered his life to music. There’s no chance in the world that he thinks every thought that incubates in his mind is ‘deep.’ What he is doing instead is removing any boundary between himself and the listener. There is no metaphor, there is nothing to search for, it is just exactly what it is. But, this opens up a can of worms. Is it revolutionary? Is it garbage? Is there even a point? Is he kidding? It may be possible that we’ll never know what his intentions are. But, Kozelek wouldn’t want this sort of analysis, anyways. The album’s one merit is this: after so much talking on Kozelek’s part, you’ll feel like you will know him so well, maybe even better than anyone you know in real life. His entire existence is there and yours for the taking.

If Kozelek happens to find this review, it’ll no doubt end up in one of his torrential-thought-streams-put-to-music, and he won’t be nice about it. After all, he wasn’t shy about calling another music journalist a “spoiled bitch rich kid blogger brat.” That is, of course, assuming he spends time Googling his own name and reading college journalism about himself. But if he’s as needy for material as he sounds, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Jacob Abrams can be reached at [email protected].

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  • J

    Jack DeanSep 23, 2020 at 3:44 am

    Where in Palo Alto?

    Just curious, as I’ve lived there for years, and know of no existing venue that would host him (or any one else I would want to see).

    Listened to Mark since RHP, and have witnessed the trajectory. His extended play sets were of legend, and to have him solo after the rest of the band left the stage were indelible. The midlife self inventory, was a buzz-kill during a show at The Great American Music Hall in SF.

    He lifted his shirt to show his gut as if to lift a middle finger to the audience. Jack Kerouac comes to mind.

    No one was there to see a rock star, man.

    They all have shelf lives.

    The truly talented singer/song writers don’t, and you are one.

    So, if you do find this article, don’t hate, stop rummaging through the “manure”, and find more sublime beauty in your heart.

    If nothing else, cut more Metal or Punk covers, and make them your own.

    Reply
  • M

    Mark WeissSep 25, 2019 at 12:42 am

    I’m his exact age but just jumped on that bandwagon because I’m a fan of Donny McCaslin. Mark co-writes a song on Donny’s recent cd, and sings. The song is about a bad experience Mark may have had with a concert promoter in Florida. I’m a concert promoter in Palo Alto, near Stanford and have a show with him Friday night – -September 27, 2019. My goal for the show is to not end up the subject of “The Promoter 2”.
    This is all so post modern. Sorry we Gen X people used up all the modern per se.

    Reply
  • G

    GinaApr 13, 2019 at 5:09 am

    I have been listening to Mark for well over 20 years. There is nobody with such a distinctive voice. His music has mad me laugh and made me cry. In concerts he is funny as hell. Mark sings with his heart. I think he is at a point in life where he has fears of death. I think Mark has always written of experiences in his life. He will always be in my eyes a musical genius. Love Ya Mark.

    Reply
  • A

    AlumApr 9, 2019 at 12:24 pm

    Fantastic read. Great flow, Jacob.

    Reply