April (Caldo Verde)

After 2005’s Tiny Cities, a collection of countrified Modest Mouse covers, it was only a matter of time before Sun Kil Moon leader Mark Kozelek returned to the achingly personal songs that have defined his career. April, the group’s third disc, is full of these often uncomfortable moments. Since his days with the Red House Painters, Kozelek has always sung from the gut, fixating on the dourest moments of heartbreak. Atop the gently brushed drums and intricately plucked guitars of “Moores-town”, he softly describes time spent with an old flame, painfully admitting: “My thoughts will pause/My throat will swell when her name is spoken.”

With its southern-rock flair, “Tonight the Sky” is by far the album’s best and loudest cut. The Neil Young–inspired track, only a hair away from plagiarizing “Ohio”, comes complete with a Shakey-style one-note solo that takes up at least 45 seconds of the 10-minute rocker. Although Kozelek’s songs have become increasingly folksy over the years—a country twang even creeps into his voice on “The Light”—the musician still has a soft spot for the slowcore scene he came from. “Tonight in Bilbao” relaxes into a hypnotically repetitive six-string melody backed by long-time collaborator Anthony Koutsos’s snail’s pace drumming. Although it further expands his songwriting skills—check out the flamenco guitar on the album closer, “Blue Orchids”—April finds Kozelek still obsessed with whatever has him so down.