The Wake

Isaac Brock and Mark Kozelek know what they’re doing. As the lead singers and songwriters in Modest Mouse and Sun Kil Moon, respectively, they’ve awed innumerable listeners with their distinct styles and exceptional lyrics. They sound wholly dissimilar — Modest Mouse’s music is skillfully cynical and impulsive, while Sun Kil Moon’s sound touches its listener with wondrous, subtle harmonics. They are both daring and successful, which is why Sun Kil Moon’s newest release, Tiny Cities, is so disappointing.

Tiny Cities is an attempted, yet failed, tribute to Modest Mouse. Kozelek selected songs from every Modest Mouse full length, from Sad Sappy Sucker to Good News for People Who Love Bad News, albums which visibly show the range and capability of Brock as a songwriter. He then proceeded to tear away their variety, added droning vocals and shallow instrumentals, and ended up with uniform and pale covers.

The marriage of Kozelek’s voice with Brock’s lyrics is an awkward match. The remakes have nothing more than an acoustic guitar, abandoning Modest Mouse’s original intent. Kozelek’s voice sounds stranded and nervous, transforming the cyclic verses into something boring.

The one redeeming song on the album is “Grey Ice Water.” The song is an achievement; finally, Brock’s lyrics unite and blend with Sun Kil Moon’s sound. Although it hardly resembles the original, and lasts about half as long, there are more layers and emotions in the newer rendition. For once, it adds something positive instead of taking it away. The song succeeds, basking in its own invented complexity.

This one track is hardly enough to save the other ten. He might have been trying to create something new using old ideas, but Kozelek’s renditions are superficial attempts at mimicry that were only played off as reinventions. He comes across as a lazy songwriter, failing miserably to compliment Brock’s, or even his own, talent. For fans, this album will do nothing except leave them with a craving for Modest Mouse’s sound. There was such potential here, room for something great, but Kozelek’s daring experiment boiled over and ruined what could have been. Simply put, he shouldn’t have gone there.