EQUALIZER: In Mark Kozelek’s hands, Kiss and John Denver sound exactly the same.
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Followers of Mark Kozelek, the depressive San Francisco balladeer who used to front Red House Painters and now leads Sun Kil Moon, have long been familiar with his penchant for covering left-field source material in his low-and-slow style: he’s the rare performer in whose hands material by Kiss and John Denver sounds exactly the same. Tiny Cities, the follow-up to Sun Kil Moon’s excellent 2003 debut, comprises covers of songs by Modest Mouse, the Washington State indie band whose wounded-bully frontman, Isaac Brock, seems to have taken some cues from Kozelek over the years. As usual, you’d have no trouble believing the songs are Kozelek’s, since pretty much the only link Sun Kil Moon’s versions share with the originals is Brock’s lyrics; Kozelek and his mates replace Modest Mouse’s clanging junkyard pop with carefully arranged acoustic folk. The juxtaposition occasionally yields some affecting moments, as in “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes,” where Kozelek threatens to “punch you in your glasses” over a delicate guitar arpeggio.MARK KOZELEK | May 26 | Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave, Boston | 617.369.3306
On the Web
Sun Kil Moon:http://sunkilmoon.com/
