Ghosts of the Great Highway, the remarkable debut album from Mark Kozelek’s long-anticipated new band Sun Kil Moon, released in November 2003, has already generated more attention (and sales) than his previous solo albums and Red House Painters efforts (with the exception of the Island Records release Songs for a Blue Guitar). Kozelek has spent the last year touring the US and Europe with a line-up that has included Red House Painters guitarist Phil Carney, guitarist Matt Boyer, violinist Alan Molina and Michi Aceret on viola. He’s also performed solo tours in support of Ghosts in both the US and Australia. A vinyl release of Ghosts is available through director Cameron Crowe’s Vinyl Records and includes an exclusive acoustic arrangement of “Gentle Moon.”
As anyone who has followed Mark Kozelek’s career over the past twelve years expects, the songs featured on Ghosts of the Great Highway carry with them a perceptible amount of intrigue with the joys and struggles of everyday life. But while the songs often concern themselves with the frightful power of memory and the romantic lure of looking back, they are fueled by the propulsive energy that occurs when a new band finds its spark. The new band’s chemistry is undeniable.
Ghosts of the Great Highway was recorded in San Francisco between March 2002 and May 2003 and features drummers Anthony Koutsos (Red House Painters) and Tim Mooney (American Music Club), Seattle bassist Geoff Stanfield (formerly of Black Lab) and a string trio from the San Francisco Conservatory. The album was recorded by San Francisco engineer Aaron Prellwitz (Red House Painters, Hella).
Mark Kozelek has recorded six studio albums with Red House Painters, three solo albums, including What’s Next to the Moon, a collection of AC/DC songs reinterpreted, and served as producer for Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver. The two-CD Retrospective collects various rarities and live tracks alongside favored RHP material.
More recently, “Duk Koo Kim” can be heard in an online Volvo Commercial made for Japanese and European markets. “Carry Me Ohio” was featured in a recent episode of Queer as Folk and will be featured along with “Lily and Parrots” in the upcoming Steve Martin film Shopgirl, in which Kozelek plays the role of a lead singer in a fictitious rock band. Kozelek also contributed an exclusive track, “Arrival,” to the film The Girl Next Door while the 1994 Red House Painters song “Cabezon” can be heard in a not-for-profit commercial sponsored by Tiger Woods.
Other credits include scoring the independent film Last Ball and appearing in Cameron Crowe’s critically acclaimed Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky, which also featured a re-recording of “Have You Forgotten.” Kozelek recently had his lyrics published as a limited edition book, Nights of Passed Over, in Portugal.
Mark Kozelek is currently touring in support of Ghosts with no definite plans for a new recording at the moment.
Source: http://www.nipp.com/artists/detail/mark-kozelek-of-red-house-painters-and-sun-kil-moon
