Yet another album by Mark Kozelek, and my
questions are as strong as ever. Does he mean it or is he taking the piss? Does
he really hate guys in tennis shoes? Does he realise that guys in tennis shoes
are the ones who buy his albums? Does he think he is a genius? Are there limits
to this phenomenal self-indulgence? Is he Jesus Christ? Does he think he is
Jesus Christ? Is his new album any good?
Etc. Etc. Etc.
We really don’t care
how pretentious are favourite artists are. After all, you are not going to slag
off Jim Morrison. But I feel like Mark is teetering on the edge here. Last time
around, on Benji, he had the tunes
and the flow. Last time around, he wrote “Richard Ramirez Died Today Of Natural
Causes” (clearly the greatest song of 2014). He almost had subtlety drowning in
the sea of seemingly pointless, long-winded narratives.
This time, with Universal Themes, he is testing your
patience. He is patchy, he is all over the place. His self-confidence is
unbearable. And yet his personality almost makes up for every flaw and Sun Kil
Moon’s latest is still head and shoulders above most of the stuff I’ve heard
all year.
