Mark Kozelek's fans can't accuse him of holding out on them; whether with Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon, or under his own name, he keeps them supplied. His latest gift is 7 Songs Belfast, a quickie record documenting a solo acoustic performance. It's aimed squarely at fans-- it includes no new songs, and for a limited time the CD comes free if you order something else from his Caldo Verde website. It's also available as a digital download for four bucks.
Kozelek's voice is a vehicle for ache-- his skillful acoustic guitar playing is almost besides the point as he unfurls those long, slow melodies. He's not a man of many tempos, preferring to keep it slow, but his sound is one you can luxuriate in all the same. Always fond of covers (twice devoting entire albums to the songs of another artist), here he reprises his version of John Denver's "Around and Around" from If You Want Blood and Rock 'n' Roll Singer alongside a half-dozen originals.
Among the originals, four appeared on a previous small-edition live compilation, Nights, though in different versions. The three Sun Kil Moon selections differ most in this setting from the originals, which is natural as that's typically Kozelek's most rock-oriented project. "Gentle Moon" is especially lovely stripped to its bare essentials-- the hesitations in the melody stand out, and Kozelek must have been playing a spacious room, because the reverberation accentuates the loneliness of his delivery. Among the Red House Painters selections, "River" greatly benefits from paring back, in part because the Old Ramon version is a bit sludgy and plodding-- losing that weight makes the melody more nimble and immediately affecting.
The highlight of the set is RHP's timeless "San Geronimo", where Kozelek's lines about lost memories of his youth pass like ghosts over his sharp fingerpicking. It's a microcosm of the larger album-- few can sing with more authority and still come off as ephemeral as Kozelek. Unsurprisingly then, this is a beautiful recording. It's no substitute for his best works-- Sun Kil Moon's Ghosts of the Great Highway or the Red House Painters' Ocean Beach are still the best Kozelek starting points-- but it nicely slots in next to his other records and is a must for his many devoted fans.
