SUN KIL MOON - Benji

Mark Kozelek's been on a roll as of late, having already participated in three releases on his Caldo Verde imprint last year. This newest under the Sun Kil Moon mantle is his most universally-acclaimed since perhaps this project name first appeared back in 2003, and deservedly so (at least in our opinion), as Kozelek expands on the stream-of-consciousness style he started on 2012's Among The Leaves, moving his locus of attention from the realities of the road to his family and memories of his native Ohio.

"[Benji] is one of the least abstract, least ironic, most straightforward albums I have ever heard. The album's 11 vignettes—at a certain point I hesitate to even call them 'songs'—come across as short stories ripped from the pages of Kozelek's diary. They are rendered in the simplest of terms, often so blatantly and artlessly that you can't help but cringe. There isn't a shred of subtext on the whole album; almost every track can be summed up in its title...The whole production would be grotesquely comical if it didn't feel so unflinchingly, unapologetically sincere. And here's the thing: Benji doesn't resonate in spite of its awkwardness, but wholly because of it. Where so many artists would coat their lyrics in a thick buffer of nonchalance and ennui, Kozelek makes absolutely no pretension of playing it cool." - Tiny Mix Tapes