Biography
Having ended Red House Painters, singer and songwriter Mark Kozelek introduced Sun Kil Moon to develop and broaden the glowing acoustic ballad style plus the intensely personal lyric approach that had marked his output until that point. Sun Kil Moon first appeared via Ghosts of the Great Highway in 2002, which extended the somber dream pop tone of Red House Painters. After the lean yet meticulously shaped Admiral Fell Promises in 2010, his writing turned far more straightforward, factual, and at times wry with the arrival of Among the Leaves in 2012. The especially confessional Benji surfaced in 2014 and ranked among the most widely embraced and acclaimed albums across Kozelek’s body of work. He maintained a diary-style, self-referential method of songwriting on later projects such as Universal Themes in 2015 and two joint efforts with Jesu.
Born in Massillon, Ohio, during 1967, Kozelek started his initial group God Forbid while still a teenager. After moving to Atlanta he formed a close association with drummer Anthony Koutsos, and the pair launched the earliest version of Red House Painters. A relocation to San Francisco came next, where guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel completed the lineup. While gigging on the Bay Area club scene the four-piece drew notice from American Music Club frontman Mark Eitzel, who repeatedly named Red House Painters his preferred band. Eitzel passed their demo tape to the London offices of 4AD Records, which signed the act and released the raw demos in 1992 as the LP Down Colorful Hill, an arresting set of spare, atmospheric melodies set behind Kozelek’s spectral vocals. Later releases, most notably a pair of self-titled albums issued consecutively in 1993, positioned Kozelek as a songwriter of remarkable emotional reach who unflinchingly chronicled his unpredictable and abusive tendencies along with his unsettled past.
Tensions with 4AD intensified, and when Kozelek began a long-discussed solo album following the luminous Ocean Beach in 1995 the label ended Red House Painters’ contract. Although none of his bandmates performed on the finished record, the solo collection Songs for a Blue Guitar instead appeared under the Red House Painters name when it surfaced on Island’s Supreme imprint in 1996. The group reconvened late in 1997 for one last album, Old Ramon, yet the Polygram/Universal merger brought Supreme to a close and left the finished LP in limbo indefinitely. Kozelek soon turned to assembling and producing Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver, an all-star covers collection honoring the life and music of the late singer-songwriter, and in 2000 he issued his first proper solo album, Rock ’n’ Roll Singer, an unusual yet absorbing patchwork featuring three Bon Scott-era AC/DC covers. Even more unexpectedly, Kozelek also appeared in filmmaker Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous, portraying Larry Fellows, bassist for the fictional 1970s hard rock band Stillwater. After obtaining the rights to Old Ramon he licensed it to Sub Pop for release in spring 2001. Later that year the label also put out his limited-edition solo recording White Christmas Live.
Early in 2002 Kozelek formed Sun Kil Moon alongside former Red House Painter Anthony Koutsos, Black Lab bassist Geoff Stanfield, and one-time American Music Club drummer Tim Mooney. Their debut Ghosts of the Great Highway arrived to widespread praise in late 2003, after which Kozelek assembled a fresh touring unit and spent much of 2004 on the road. He also extended his screen work, again portraying a fictional musician in the 2005 film adaptation of Steve Martin’s novella Shopgirl. That summer Kozelek joined Low’s Alan Sparhawk in the classic rock cover band Retribution Gospel Choir, issuing a tour-only EP ahead of the second Sun Kil Moon album, the widely criticized Tiny Cities, which consisted of Modest Mouse covers. The album marked the first release on Kozelek’s own Caldo Verde label. April, which included guest vocals from Will Oldham and Ben Gibbard, followed in 2008. Kozelek changed direction once more for Admiral Fell Promises in 2010, recording ten new songs supported solely by nylon-string guitar. The similarly oriented Among the Leaves, his fifth release under the Sun Kil Moon name, appeared in 2012.
An especially candid set of songs called Benji came out in February 2014. The album achieved unexpected critical and commercial success, reaching number 75 on the Billboard 200 and appearing on numerous year-end lists, among them FACT’s ranking of it as the best album of 2014. Kozelek’s sudden surge in media visibility also drew attention to his famously irritable stage demeanor, which occasionally risked eclipsing his music; a one-sided dispute with the War on Drugs received particular notice. He closed 2014 with the long-awaited Sings Christmas Carols, his solo collection of holiday standards. Sun Kil Moon’s seventh album, Universal Themes, surfaced in June 2015. The long-rumored collaboration with Justin Broadrick’s Jesu project was confirmed that year, with an advance track titled “America’s Most Wanted Mark Kozelek and John Dillinger” sent to websites in October. The album, issued simply as Jesu/Sun Kil Moon, appeared on Caldo Verde in January 2016. Kozelek next released a covers collection titled Sings Favorites. Sun Kil Moon’s expansive double album Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood followed in February 2017. A second Jesu collaboration, 30 Seconds to the Decline of Planet Earth, came afterward. After three releases under his own name—a project with Sean Yeaton, one with Ben Boye and Jim White, and a self-titled solo album—Kozelek returned to Sun Kil Moon with This Is My Dinner in 2018. The following year another extended album appeared as I Also Want to Die in New Orleans, whose jazz-tinged instrumentals again featured drummer Jim White along with saxophonist Donny McCaslin.
Born in Massillon, Ohio, during 1967, Kozelek started his initial group God Forbid while still a teenager. After moving to Atlanta he formed a close association with drummer Anthony Koutsos, and the pair launched the earliest version of Red House Painters. A relocation to San Francisco came next, where guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel completed the lineup. While gigging on the Bay Area club scene the four-piece drew notice from American Music Club frontman Mark Eitzel, who repeatedly named Red House Painters his preferred band. Eitzel passed their demo tape to the London offices of 4AD Records, which signed the act and released the raw demos in 1992 as the LP Down Colorful Hill, an arresting set of spare, atmospheric melodies set behind Kozelek’s spectral vocals. Later releases, most notably a pair of self-titled albums issued consecutively in 1993, positioned Kozelek as a songwriter of remarkable emotional reach who unflinchingly chronicled his unpredictable and abusive tendencies along with his unsettled past.
Tensions with 4AD intensified, and when Kozelek began a long-discussed solo album following the luminous Ocean Beach in 1995 the label ended Red House Painters’ contract. Although none of his bandmates performed on the finished record, the solo collection Songs for a Blue Guitar instead appeared under the Red House Painters name when it surfaced on Island’s Supreme imprint in 1996. The group reconvened late in 1997 for one last album, Old Ramon, yet the Polygram/Universal merger brought Supreme to a close and left the finished LP in limbo indefinitely. Kozelek soon turned to assembling and producing Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver, an all-star covers collection honoring the life and music of the late singer-songwriter, and in 2000 he issued his first proper solo album, Rock ’n’ Roll Singer, an unusual yet absorbing patchwork featuring three Bon Scott-era AC/DC covers. Even more unexpectedly, Kozelek also appeared in filmmaker Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous, portraying Larry Fellows, bassist for the fictional 1970s hard rock band Stillwater. After obtaining the rights to Old Ramon he licensed it to Sub Pop for release in spring 2001. Later that year the label also put out his limited-edition solo recording White Christmas Live.
Early in 2002 Kozelek formed Sun Kil Moon alongside former Red House Painter Anthony Koutsos, Black Lab bassist Geoff Stanfield, and one-time American Music Club drummer Tim Mooney. Their debut Ghosts of the Great Highway arrived to widespread praise in late 2003, after which Kozelek assembled a fresh touring unit and spent much of 2004 on the road. He also extended his screen work, again portraying a fictional musician in the 2005 film adaptation of Steve Martin’s novella Shopgirl. That summer Kozelek joined Low’s Alan Sparhawk in the classic rock cover band Retribution Gospel Choir, issuing a tour-only EP ahead of the second Sun Kil Moon album, the widely criticized Tiny Cities, which consisted of Modest Mouse covers. The album marked the first release on Kozelek’s own Caldo Verde label. April, which included guest vocals from Will Oldham and Ben Gibbard, followed in 2008. Kozelek changed direction once more for Admiral Fell Promises in 2010, recording ten new songs supported solely by nylon-string guitar. The similarly oriented Among the Leaves, his fifth release under the Sun Kil Moon name, appeared in 2012.
An especially candid set of songs called Benji came out in February 2014. The album achieved unexpected critical and commercial success, reaching number 75 on the Billboard 200 and appearing on numerous year-end lists, among them FACT’s ranking of it as the best album of 2014. Kozelek’s sudden surge in media visibility also drew attention to his famously irritable stage demeanor, which occasionally risked eclipsing his music; a one-sided dispute with the War on Drugs received particular notice. He closed 2014 with the long-awaited Sings Christmas Carols, his solo collection of holiday standards. Sun Kil Moon’s seventh album, Universal Themes, surfaced in June 2015. The long-rumored collaboration with Justin Broadrick’s Jesu project was confirmed that year, with an advance track titled “America’s Most Wanted Mark Kozelek and John Dillinger” sent to websites in October. The album, issued simply as Jesu/Sun Kil Moon, appeared on Caldo Verde in January 2016. Kozelek next released a covers collection titled Sings Favorites. Sun Kil Moon’s expansive double album Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood followed in February 2017. A second Jesu collaboration, 30 Seconds to the Decline of Planet Earth, came afterward. After three releases under his own name—a project with Sean Yeaton, one with Ben Boye and Jim White, and a self-titled solo album—Kozelek returned to Sun Kil Moon with This Is My Dinner in 2018. The following year another extended album appeared as I Also Want to Die in New Orleans, whose jazz-tinged instrumentals again featured drummer Jim White along with saxophonist Donny McCaslin.