Universal Themes
by Sun Kil Moon

Pretty tough to get into an album where the guy is not even singing and just rambling on and on about randomness. I don't get the appeal for Sun Kil Moon

From bonafini 10/19/2015 03:47 | #151675

There is a very fine line between valuing life through the power of its simple and casual crudeness and randomly inferring grandiose meanings in banality. The whole lyrical and musical concept is really the same as before, the difference is in well-doing. “Benji” was a masterpiece because it accomplished it; “Universal Themes” stops short of it, which makes it pretentious bullshit.

(And, about the title polemics, my opinion is that, although every story is super-specific, they all (intend to) represent these grandiose themes that all of us are always wondering about, like mortality, etc.)

Nylon guitars and spoken word. I'm sick of it, i miss the first records until "April".

From jhuik 06/14/2015 01:22 | #143789

It's just great to watch and listen to such an interesting artist stretch himself in so many different directions from one album to the next. I have my doubts this works, though.

From johnner 06/04/2015 08:02 | #142983

Please ignore my previous comment. The album's a bit more difficult and ungainly than Benji, with M Kozelek thrown us more of a bone this time. The music being more ornate, Kozelek relates various tales from his life, some interesting some mundane that are no less affecting or touching.

From HoldenM 06/04/2015 01:52 | #142967

I disagree. I think each song strings together very specific moments, because they all teach a very specific lesson, or have a running idea. I think the clearest idea of this is the closing track, which is all about being somewhere you said you'd be, but then feeling out of place, and learning to be okay with it, in spite of one's comfort. "Birds of Flims" is very similar in that way, and I think it works really well across the board. In fact, look at the album art. You probably don't know where that is, but you know what it is. You have this idea of familiarity, even if it's outside of something you've seen, or somewhere you've been. Slowly, pieces come together, and it actually is very unified. It takes a bit to get there, but I promise that it makes sense. And you could say, "HoldenM, you idiot, you're reading too much into this," to which I say, no I'm not. At first glance, none of it makes much sense, but seen from a distance, it really is like nothing else.

From johnner 06/03/2015 22:38 | #142954

The joke being that there aren't any universal themes, instead this is super-Mark Kozelek specific. A lot more awkward and ungainly than Benji, Kozelek basically rambles various tales from his life, some interesting some mundane over eight 10 minutes slabs of indie-folk. With few melodic hooklines to anchor the songs and the troubling fact that it will be very hard to develop any kind of emotional resonance over what Kozelek and his girlfriend watched on HBO, it's very hard to view Universal Themes as little else than two fingers to his casual fans.

From koner1 06/01/2015 16:06 | #142809

The references to Benji here are so amusing

From HoldenM 05/30/2015 09:24 | #142681

Did. Not. Disappoint. Anyone who felt that Benji was lacking musically, Universal Themes more than makes up for it. Quite possibly the most satisfying folk rock album in recent memory.

From Fishmans 05/30/2015 00:38 | #142665

Lots of long songs and experimentation. Really to my taste. Although the album cover quality is the same as always.