''Down Colorful Hill'' is the debut studio album by American band

Red House Painters Red House Painters were an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1988, before relocating to San Francisco, California in 1989. Originally formed by singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek and drummer Anthony Koutsos, the pair were soon joine ...

, released in 1992 by

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of th ...

Background

As was done with the debuts of previous 4AD artists like

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, and

His Name Is Alive His Name Is Alive is an American experimental rock band/project from Livonia, Michigan. After several self-released cassettes, they debuted on 4AD Records in 1990, starting a long run at the label. Throughout the band's long history, leader Wa ...

, the album is made up of demos that were slightly remixed for general release. In Martin Aston's book ''Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD,''

Mark Kozelek Mark Edward Kozelek (born January 24, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and occasional actor. He is the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon and was a founding member of the i ...

expressed regret over the

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- and

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-heavy mixing techniques he employed. The song "Waterkill", which dates from the same sessions but not included here, later appeared on the compilation ''

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'' in un-remixed form, giving listeners an idea of the original demos' rawer sound. A music video was produced for the song "24", directed by Mark Taylor. The cover artwork for ''Down Colorful Hill'' is by Welsh photographer

Simon Larbalestier Simon Larbalestier (born 1962 in Pembrokeshire) is a Welsh photographer. Larbalestier is noted for his collaborative work with Vaughan Oliver and the design studios 23 Envelope and v23 with whom he has provided photography used on the album artwo ...

entitled "Bed".

Reception

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'' noted that "as glum and mournful as Kozelek's sentiments may be, there's a still, stark autumnal beauty that emerges over the course of this debut that's the pop equivalent of a chilly, fogbound English morning."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote that "the group has already reached full maturity; these lengthy, ponderous songs are remarkably evocative portraits of a distinctly tortured psyche – Mark Kozelek forgoes the camouflage of metaphor to lay his soul on the line, and the honesty of his craft is both beautiful and disturbing". ''

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'' wrote in a 2012 article that the album "sounds dated and immature; the work of a nascent artist who didn't trust his own voice, didn't know his way around a studio and wasn't entirely confident on the guitar. ..But good lord, what an album."

Track listing

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control Red House Painters albums 1992 debut albums 4AD albums Albums produced by Mark Kozelek