Jesu / Sun Kil Moon
“America’s Most Wanted Mark Kozelek and John Dillinger”
Jesu/Sun Kil Moon (out 01.21.16)
“That’s an account of my last few days,” sings Mark Kozelek on the first single off his new collaborative LP with Godflesh/Jesu frontman, Justin Broadrick. The refrain (along with the song title) is a cheeky, thinly-veiled allusion to the Internet backlash to the rambling lyrics of his recent work. While Kozelek’s combative nature has been a constant of his long, rich career, it’s hard not to feel like his interminable squabbling with the press, other bands, and even his own fans is starting to overwhelm his work. The incidents have ranged from mostly harmless to downright pathetic, and it really seemed to infect his most recent LP, June’s Universal Themes, one of the weakest of his career.
And though there’s not a ton of buzz surrounding Jesu / Sun Kil Moon, I’m betting that Broadrick’s laidback persona will bring balance to proceedings and inspire more restraint in Kozelek. Hopefully, it will follow the blueprint of his recent collaborative successes with Jimmy LaValle on 2013’s sterling Perils from the Sea and his excellent LP with Desertshore. While this single doesn’t really allay those fears — dude reads a piece of actual fan mail at the end — it’s far from the shambling mess that much of Universal Themes was, and the warm electric guitar-lead and synths encouragingly hint at the scope of Broadrick’s influence.
