Sun Kil Moon, San Fransisco based folk rock one man band led by Mark Kozelek, has officially announced its new album, Welcome to Sparks, Nevada, according to Brooklyn Vegan. While all of the details regarding the release of the album have not been released, the album can be expected to arrive sometime in the fall later this year, and will be Kozelek’s first new music since releasing “My Brother Loves Seagulls” in January earlier this year.
Sun Kil Moon also shared the album’s lead single, “The Johnny Cash Trail.” The eleven minute epic is slow and ominous, and is a simple display of instrumentation featuring Kozelek’s vocals and an electric piano. Kozelek’s tender voice adds a level of comfort along with the electric piano accompaniment, while the lyrics paint broad pictures of journeys of self discovery. The song is a bold opening statement of Sun Kil Moon’s new album, and the simplicity of the instrumentation leaves a question of what the central style of the album will be, or if it will even have one.
Welcome to Sparks, Nevada will be Kozelek’s eleventh studio album as Sun Kil Moon, and his most recent since the release of I Also Want to Die in New Orleans in March of 2019. That album did not receive favorable reviews, as Mxdwn’s Ines Lalonde writes that the album has, “some interesting switch-ups in production, yet Kozelek’s worn-out vocals seem to merely ramble on for over 130 minutes, not hitting the mark like previous records.”
Although I Also Want to Die in New Orleans is not seen as Kozelek’s best work, Sun Kil Moon’s 2018 album This Is My Dinner received much higher praise among critics. Kozelek solidified his rambling style on this record, and Mxdwn’s Drew Pitt notes that Kozelek, “continues to delight and potentially infuriate audiences with the same delightful rambling that has made him both hugely loved and deeply detested.”
Photo Credit: April Siese
Leave a Comment