Sun Kil Moon - Benji

Sun Kil Moon
Benji
11 February 2014
Caldo Verde

4.5 stars out of 5

 

Sun Kil Moon’s sixth album, and Mark Kozelek’s twenty-first album overall, is named after the 1974 film featuring the little dog. Lyrically, the record is an exploration of what it feels like to be 46 and be thinking a lot about death. Kozelek’s completely unadorned lyrics are as frank and open as those of anyone making a living off of writing songs today. It’s almost an anti-poetry in its avoidance of all poetic devices; this is precisely what makes it so strong as poetry.

“Carissa” is a gentle tune telling how Kozelek heard about the death of his second cousin and how he’s going to go back to Ohio to pay his respects. Like most of the rest of the album, it features only acoustic guitar, backing vocals, and Kozelek’s subtly crackling voice. On the bereft “Truck Driver,” Kozelek tells about going to his uncle’s funeral. Drums make their first appearance on “Dogs,” an unhinged account of various fleeting encounters and their consequences, good or bad. “Pray for Newtown” winds between the personal and the political, recalling Kozelek’s reactions to the mass shooting and his evolving thoughts on the matter. There are light hearted moments on the album too—the ode to his father, “I Love My Dad,” features one of the funniest lines of the year so far: “When I was five I came home from kindergarten crying because they sat me next to an albino.” The epic-length “I Watched the Film The Song Remains the Same” is an autobiographical examination of melancholia. Then, realizing he needs “one more track to finish off the record,” Kozelek gives us “Ben’s My Friend,” a jazzy and hilarious romp through random events in a typical day, and probably the best tossed-off five and a half minutes of filler you’ll hear this year.

Kozelek is perhaps the anti-Bowie (who he name checks) in that where Bowie is constantly changing and trying on new identities, Kozelek is constantly stripping away the affectations and trying to be only himself. Benji is as refreshing and thought-provoking as its namesake is stale and banal. There’s not even the slightest hint at an effort to be “cool” or “current” or “edgy” here, just honest openness and humility.

reviewed by Richard Krueger