Among the LeavesCaldo Verde ***

This fifth LP from Sun Kil Moon is as much about the regretted past as it is about the poorly lit present, a theme mapped out over 17 songs. Although there is a lushness to the record, because of Mark Kozelek's drawling vocal there is a spindliness too. This manifests in the sound of his nylon string guitar and the lyrics, which sound careworn, as on Sunshine in Chicago, where he ruefully recalls the 1990s: "We had lots of female fans . . . / Now I just sign posters for guys in tennis shoes." There is a pleasing urgency to the guitar on That Bird has a Broken Wing, and an almost mournful air on Young Love and Track Number 8. Melancholy floats around the record like a fog, but peering out of the mist is the buoyant Song for Richard Collopy. For all of that, you are still left with that feeling Kozelek sings of on the title track: "It's just me among the weeds, among the ghosts." sunkilmoon.com

Download tracks:Young Love, Among the Leaves