Sun Kil Moon - Tiny Cities

Genre rock Publisher Caldo Verde External Links Official Website Caldo Verde

Picture the scene: a stool creaks beneath an Indie-rock poet as he shifts on stage. There's a chord ringing out - hold on, what's this? Is that...that's not Britney Spears is it? The ironic cover version is almost an indie tradition now. From bad hip-hop novelty covers, to the most popular pop songs of the moment, it seems anything is fair game. But I can't shake the feeling that there is something slightly ironic or even creepy about this project from Mark Kozelek. The album is comprised entirely of Modest Mouse covers; an odd departure from Sun Kil Moon's wonderful debut Ghosts Of The Great Highway, which paraded Kozelek's songwriting at it's very best.

The covers come in short bursts far removed from the originals. There are some solid reinterpretations here; "Dramamine" employs a full band arrangement and successfully channels Modest Mouse's meandering style and sense of being slightly lost into something that could easily have been on Ghosts Of The Great Highway. Sadly "Dramamine" isn't indicative of the rest of the material, which falls flat, party due to Isaac Brock's lyrics jarring against the deconstruction that Kozelek is attempting. "We're drinking coca-coca-cola/I can feel it rolling right on down my throat" doesn't sound convincing from Kozelek, whereas on the original Brock's sleazy drawl is perfect for lampooning capitalist debauchery.

I believe there have been some great cover versions, even some great cover albums (See most of Stina Nordenstam's fantastic People Are Strange album), I expected more than throwaway novelty from Kozelek on Sun Kil Moon's second outing. But in an odd way this novelty enhances the mystique of Sun Kil Moon and makes for a more intriguing sophomore slump than most. And thankfully an album full of covers allows my imagination to run wild - of course, Kozelek is toying with us, he has the greatest album up his sleeve, we're just not ready for it yet. Then again, he could have Kozelek-Bop: Sing-a-long with today's pop anthems up his sleeve, indeed, if I had to make a list of Sun Kil Moon's merits, predictability would be dead last.