Perils From The Sea

Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon) and Jimmy LaValle (The Album Leaf) team up for a series of thoughtful, pretty, electronically driven meanderings. LaValle provides music, Kozelek lyrics and vocals. For Kozelek, who’s been working almost exclusively with nylon-string guitar lately, this is a very different musical direction, and he uses it to expand and develop his newly conversational lyric style. Not all the songs work, but by and large this is a fascinating and engrossing listen. Favorites: 1, 5, 8, 9, 11. FCC WARNING: 2, 3.

1. *(5:16)—Slow, chintzy-sounding but catchy and well done. Kozelek worries about his brother and reminisces about the past.
2. (5:10)—FCC WARNING (f***). Mid-tempo, dark electro. Kozelek sings about a special dime he stole as a child and his attempt to make amends.
3. (7:11)—FCC WARNING (multiple “f***”s). Slow and chill. About a construction worker who worked on Kozelek’s house and got deported.
4. (8:12)—Mid-tempo, similar in sound to track two. Kozelek sings about travel, love, and death.
5. *(8:09)—Beatless, dreamy, optimistic, lovely. Kozelek reflects on his life as he tries to fall asleep.
6. (5:40)—Medium-slow murder ballad. The lyrics feel paired to the wrong music; this sounds almost Christmassy.
7. (6:17)—Medium-slow, soft, dreamy. About how much Kozelek loves his girlfriend.
8. *(7:56)—Fast, hazy, aquatic. Kozelek delivers some particularly poetic and sad lyrics about his neighbors.
9. *(7:26)—Mid-tempo. Poppier and more distinctly electronic sound. Tour stories, memories. Gets really interesting when Kozelek remembers people who told him he “wouldn’t amount to much of anything.” Nice chorus.
10. (5:52)—Mid-tempo, soft, lush. Kozelek meditates on evil and ruination.
11. *(10:32)—Slow, melancholy, spine-tingling. Drones, piano, minimal beat. Kozelek tells stories of dead friends but, as the title implies, turns this into an undoubtedly hopeful song.