Labels: Badman
Review by: Dan Baker
the red house painters are one of the most namedropped bands in this emo scene, probably second behind sunny day real estate, and they are also one of my favourite ever bands, which is strange in itself, being that they released their last thing in 1996, three years before i heard any of their stuff. for anyone who has never heard them, they play acoustic, undistorted, pretty, depressing, beautifully sung pop music. i guess you could say they sound like pedro the lion but good.
anyhow when i saw that mark kozelek, singer guitarist of the red house painters had a solo album out, i knew i had to buy it, even if it did mean i couldnt buy my train ticket. i decided to buy the cd and dodge the train journey.
well mark kozelek has certainly grown up in the last four years. the sound has developed (changed anyway) into a more folk oriented downbeat form and most of the songs on this ep are covers including one of the ‘legendary’ john denver. lyrically he is the same as ever, his soulful voice passionately convey words of fears, metaphysical wanderings and girls.
this is not exactly what i expected but definately bodes well for full length release which comes out in 2001. but if youve never heard a red house painters song you don’t know what you are missing, go out and buy something now and to quote a rather lame mobile phone advertisment, be inspired. if a phone can inspire you, you have serious mental problems.