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| Red House Painters Red House Painters I |
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Full Review | User Ratings (32) |
| Summary: A sure rollercoaster of an album. |
“A chance for calm,
A hope for freedom,
Outlet from my cold solitary kingdom,
By the forest of our spring stay,
Where you walked away
And left a bleeding part of me.
Empty and bothered,
Watching the water,
Quiet in the corner,
Numb and falling through
Without you what does my life amount to?”
There is a number of adjectives that I can use to describe the Red House Painters’ music:
Emotional, auto-biographical, sweeping, weeping, sad, depressing, gloomy, indie
These descriptive words will have already given you an idea of what they sound like. Red House Painters is the brainchild of Mark Kozelek who has lived a life in sadness and despair. His songs serve as an emotional outlet describing events that have happened within his lifetime. This is the band’s debut where Kozelek’s songwriting is just starting to flourish and the end results are dismal.
Kozelek’s songwriting is the main summit here. He is able to execute his lyrics into the most saddening tones. Without this, the music simply wouldn’t work. The guitars don’t do anything that hasn’t been done before, the bass just sits there while the drums do the simplest of things. But do you know what, it doesn’t matter in the slightest. The music is the ideal backing for Mark’s tales of sorrow. Red House Painters 1 starts in superb style, “Grace Cathedral Park” conflicts with the rest of the songs here but it’s still simply excellent. The sweeping folksy guitar is poignant and makes this a beautiful beginning to an otherwise gloomy album. As said earlier, the songwriting here is based around stories in Mark’s life and an example of this would be “Katy Song”, a song about a man who feels he has nothing when his lover leaves him to live in London. It is touching material and the way Kozelek expresses this is absolutely fantastic.
The way the whole album is presented is enjoyable albeit a bit demanding for some listeners. Throughout the 75 minutes this LP is played is a very challenging listen to first time listeners. Some songs end up as a letdown and detract from the overall outlook of the record. The weird thing about this is that the instant high from the excellent tracks fly right down while listening to the flops and this is where the album suffers. There is still a lot to get out of this if you take it piece by piece but this is just another case of difficult listening.
However, ignoring that last paragraph there’s not that much wrong with this. The lush sound from the tracks make you come back again and again and the sensation from the songwriting secures a revisit. It may not live up to Ghosts of the Great Highway by the Red House Painters' renewal group Sun Kil Moon but holds up well in Mark's discography. There’s not much more to say about this album except it’s a great listen for the casual listener and also a great album in general.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | |
Album Rating: 4.5
very unneeded but this is just a review to get me back into things y'know
This Message Edited On 10.15.07
Digging: John Wiese - Soft Punk | | | Album Rating: 4
I find that this album is very hit or miss but when it hits, it hits hard.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
i sometimes feel like that but i find that the good outweigh the bad
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Indie is a very fitting description.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Yeah, I love this album.
Digging: Off Minor - Some Blood | | |
Great album, great review. "Mistress [Piano Version]" is easily the best song on this. "New Jersey" and "Katy Song" are great too.
Digging: Ohana - Dead Beat
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
This is pretty much right, only a 4.5 because some songs dont need to be long (Mother should be that long but Funhouse kind of wears on me)
Digging: Shape of Despair | | | Album Rating: 4.5
Really? I've always thought just the opposite when it comes to those songs. Though they are both great.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Funhouse is probably the lowest point of the album for me.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Yeah Funhouse is the worst, best is easily Katy Song
I used to not like Mother but I just love the way it winds down into that gorgeous little firework-y guitar thing at the end
This Message Edited On 10.16.07
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Such a good album.
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
I've finally given every song on this a great deal of listens and can say that this will probably be a 5/5 very soon.
Digging: Coldworld - Melancholie | | | Album Rating: 4
It's such a powerful listen, by the time I hit "Katy Song" Kozelek already has me in a trance and I wind up listening to the whole thing. This has definitely grown on me and is definitely stronger then that one Sun Kil Moon album everyone was raving about.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
i like Sun Kil Moon's album better because it's a more well-rounded album but for emotional value, this is tops.
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
"Mother" gets me every time.
| | | Album Rating: 4
Album is growing on me. Katy Song is simply wonderful.
Digging: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago | | |
this album is by no means bad, but it gets so god damn boring. it took me like 3 listens to get through the whole thing. i liked it though.
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
i was feeling pretty good today so i decided to put this on again
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piano version of mistress is part boring part awesome
Digging: ratatat remixes vol. 1 GHOSTFACE - Mogwai and Brian Eno
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
I like the regular guitar version way better but I seem to be in the minority.
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