Label: Caldo Verde
Released: Nov 1, 2005 |
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On Tiny Cities, former Red House Painters frontman Mark Kozelek follows up his last solid offering under his new Sun Kil Moon moniker, last year's Ghosts of the Great Highway, with an entire album of Modest Mouse covers. In most hands, such a concept would seem cheap or gimmicky, but luckily Kozelek really knows how to cover a song. On eleven songs spanning Isaac Brock's songbook, from the "The Ocean Breathes Salty" to "Dramamine", Kozelek reinvents each song with subtle, moody acoustics, sparingly-used strings, and his Youngian sweet and lowdown voice, bringing Brock's lyrics to center stage. And while this slight-of-hand doesn't always work- "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" is far too saccharine for the embittered lyrics, and some of the interpretations, like the minute-long "Exit Does Not Exist", seem too slight to warrant being chosen over so many other possible choices in Modest Mouse's formidable catalog- the album is worthwhile work of quality and integrity for fans of either Kozelek or Modest Mouse.
Though questionable at times, Kozelek's song choices, and the way in which he chooses to interpret each, seem to come from very personal motivations, as was the entire project- which Kozelek has released on his own label, Caldo Verde. And it is that personal connection with each song that makes much of his work here fantastic. On songs like "Never Ending Math Equation" and "Dramamine", Kozelek is able to translate the soul and integrity of the originals into something distinctly his own, and the experience of hearing the songs through his ears is fascinating. And on "Space Travel is Boring", Kozelek may have even outdone the original, adding a cathartic weight to Brock's lyrics.
Granted, Modest Mouse is one of my favorite bands ever, so even if this was a recording of a rabid street peddler singing these songs a cappella into a tin can with incessant dog barking as the only accompaniment, I would probably give it a five or a six (or maybe a ten), and as far as Kozelek’s other work is concerned, I am only familiar with Ghosts of the Great Highway, so I’m not sure how this album stands up to his legacy with the Red House Painters, though I am definitely interested in finding out. Nevertheless, Tiny Cities is well worth your time. Even if you are an Isaac Brock hater, you may be won over by the strength of his lyrics when in softer hands.
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