Sun Kil Moon
Born: 1967
Location: Massillon, Ohio, USA
Genre: Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Folk Rock
Years Active: 2002 -
Real Name: Mark Kozelek
Meaning of the Name: Named after the South Korean boxer.
Way of Working: Singer-Songwriter
Associated: Red House Painters, Jimmy LaValle
Essential Releases
Ghosts of the
Great Highway (2003)
Debut album. Pastoral narratives of hard life.
Perils From the
Sea (2013)
Made as 'Mark Kozelek and Jimmy LaValle. Confessional.
Benji (2014)
A full embrace of autobiography in music. Heartfelt and crushing, plainspoken and detailed.
Mark Kozelek, the creative force behind Sun Kil Moon, is a weary traveller on dusty American roads. Much like his weather-worn ancestors, who walked the same way in decades past, he has a guitar for company, a grudge, and a rugged determination to take one more step.
As the frontman of Red House Painters, Kozelek experienced a bitter struggle with the music industry; the titan Universal Music Group refused to release the group's completed album Old Ramon in 1998. Despite fulfilling their contractual obligations, the Painters were left in limbo for three years, unable to work and deprived of potential income. Eventually, Kozelek paid $25,000 to regain control of the album he worked tirelessly on, and left the corporate world with a bitter taste in his mouth and a score to settle.
The Painters distanced themselves from their difficulties by rebranding as Sun Kil Moon, a band named after the South Korean world-champion flyweight—a little guy who packed a hell of a punch. Resolved to never work for a major again, Kozelek released the critically acclaimed Ghosts of the Great Highway (2003) on the independent Jet Set Records and, before long, set up his own shop as Caldo Verde Records. He told the Galway Advertiser:
"Being on a label - major or indie - for the most part is actually a degrading place to be."Ghosts of the Great Highway is a pastoral slice of Americana that evokes the haunting struggle of the Great Depression; an era defined the by the sheer grit of a generation who endured real hardship. It also contains several references to smaller boxers who became world champions, such as on the track 'Salvador Sanchez', which is named after the steely-eyed Mexican fighter.
Over the years, the now independent Sun Kil Moon became a Mark Kozelek solo project that allowed him to broadcast his brutally-honest thoughts to the world. Accessibility be damned. In 2014, Kozelek referred to the band War on Drugs as "beer commercial lead guitar shit" and berated the crowd at the Hopscotch Festival as "f*cking hillbillies".
This new surly persona, however, accompanied a stark change in Kozelek's creative output; in the 2010s, his songwriting transformed into a stream of consciousness that unflinchingly detailed his experiences. Benji (2014), for example, is an album about death and grief, featuring deeply personal reactions to the passing of his family members, such as his cousin Carissa, on a track bearing her name, who died in a fire when she was 35.
"Carissa burned to death last night in a freak accident fire in her yard in Brewster.This radical honesty is what defines Sun Kil Moon today. It's the type of music you simply wouldn't hear on a major label: unadulterated, brutal, and hitting like a world-champion boxer punching above his weight.
Her daughter came home from a party and found her.
Skills
*This is a work in progress. Values are subjective.Emotional Impact
90
Mental Impact
70
Originality
85
Artistry
60
Authenticity
95
Live
90
Production
70
Musicianship
70
Singing
75
Songwriting
90
Danceability
45
Fun
25
Consistency
65
Range
60
Cool
65
Charisma
35
Commercial & Critical Success
Awards
Certifications
Charts
Critics >>>
- Fact Magazine - Benji - Best Albums of 2014: 1st
- Stereogum - Benji - Best Albums of 2014: 3rd
- Pitchfork - Benji - Best Albums of 2014: 7th
