''Admiral Fell Promises'' is the fourth studio album by American
indie folk
Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation.
The genre has it ...
act
Sun Kil Moon, released on July 13, 2010 on
Caldo Verde Records
Caldo Verde Records is a San Francisco-based indie rock and folk record label founded by Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek in 2005. The label primarily features releases by Kozelek and Sun Kil Moon, but has also releas ...
.
Despite being released under the Sun Kil Moon moniker, the album features
Mark Kozelek
Mark Edward Kozelek (born January 24, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and occasional actor. He is known as the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon and founding member of t ...
performing solo on acoustic nylon-string guitar.
Along with the standard CD release, the album was also released on vinyl in October 2010, which includes liner notes, lyrics, and two bonus tracks recorded live in
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast.
The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the A ...
, France.
Regarding the album, Kozelek noted: "With this record, I had a vision in mind. I wanted to make something that was very personal, that had a theme and a flow, musically."
Kozelek has subsequently named ''Admiral Fell Promises'' the album he is most proud of recording, stating, "Bury me with
'Admiral Fell Promises'' That album is me at my best, my most focused. It's cohesive, beautiful and my playing was inspired by the legendary
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students.
Segovia's contribution to the m ...
".
A live version of the title track previously appeared on
Mark Kozelek
Mark Edward Kozelek (born January 24, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and occasional actor. He is known as the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon and founding member of t ...
's 2001 solo release, ''
White Christmas Live
Mark Edward Kozelek (born January 24, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and occasional actor. He is known as the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon and founding member of th ...
''.
Background and recording
Regarding the decision to record ''Admiral Fell Promises'' alone on an acoustic nylon-string guitar, Mark Kozelek noted: "I was interested in classical guitar when I was younger, but got away from it. A few years ago, I picked up a
Segovia
Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia.
Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes o ...
five-CD set in New Zealand. Then came home, bought some classical records – by
Liona Boyd
Liona Maria Carolynne Boyd, (born 11 July 1949) is a classical guitarist often referred to as the First Lady of the Guitar.
Music career
Early years
Boyd was born in London and grew up in Toronto. Her father grew up in Bilbao, Spain, and her ...
,
Ana Vidovic,
Julian Bream
Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perc ...
. But I really fell in love with this record by Segovia. It's just called ''Segovia'', composed by Tansman,
Federico Mompou
Frederic Mompou Dencausse (; alternatively Federico Mompou; 16 April 189330 June 1987) was a Spanish and Catalan composer and pianist. He is remembered for his solo piano music and songs.
Life
Early years
Mompou was born in Barcelona to the ...
, and Maria Esteban de Valera. It was then that I decided, for my next record, that I wanted to play guitar and sing as beautifully as I could. With the classical guitar, the whole range of sounds is covered. Bass and drums would have swamped up the sound of this record. I wanted it to have the feel of those old classical guitar records."
Kozelek would subsequently record the songs as he wrote them with engineer Aaron Prellwitz. Kozelek stated, "When I wrote a few songs over the past year, my friend Aaron would fly down and record them. We did that off and on from April of last year until April of this year. If you record a song while it’s fresh, the odds of you being happy with it are stronger. It’s when you've played a song a million times that you find yourself struggling to find the spark that made it good the first time."
Critical reception
''Admiral Fell Promises'' was released to generally positive reviews. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a favorable score of 77, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 16 reviews.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
reviewer Thom Jurek wrote: "''Admiral Fell Promises'' is the simplest Sun Kil Moon album in terms of production and presentation, but the richest in terms of structural complexity, and poetic and emotional power."
Steven Hayden of
The A.V. Club stated that "Kozelek's
Dylan-esque knack for delivering intensely internal narratives over simple folk melodies stretched out for several hypnotic minutes has once again resulted in top-notch mood music."
Zeth Lundy of ''
The Boston Phoenix
''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' a ...
'' commented that "Kozelek's picking and phrasing combine
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students.
Segovia's contribution to the m ...
with
José González and even
flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura an ...
flourishes — whatever you want to call it, it's light years ahead of the obvious strumming that permeates the singer-songwriter field."
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
critic Stephen M. Deusner stated: "Despite some lyrical clichés and careless redundancies, Kozelek's songs change mood fluidly, and the contrast between the serene settings and his own tumultuous thoughts raises even the most languid instrumental passages above mere aural wallpaper, lending it the gravity of his best work while giving it a character all its own."
Evan Sawdey of ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, f ...
'' wrote: "By stripping away all those additional bells and whistles from Sun Kil Moon's sound, an unintentional side-effect is achieved: the whole thing turns out to be a bit too monochromatic."
David Marchese of ''
Spin'' described the record as a "beautifully recorded, intermittently moving" album.
Matthew Cole of ''
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yo ...
'' commented: "Judged as an expansion on Kozelek's craft, ''Admiral Fell Promises'' is a slight effort; it offers intimate perspective, sure, but the object of observation remains the same."
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...
critic Jared Ponton thought: "When held up against prior Sun Kil Moon efforts, ''
Ghosts of the Great Highway
''Ghosts of the Great Highway'' is the debut studio album by San Francisco quartet Sun Kil Moon, led by Red House Painters' founder Mark Kozelek, who composed all of the lyrics and music on this album. The other members are Anthony Koutsos (forme ...
'' and ''
April
April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. It is the first of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the second of five months to have a length of less than 31 days.
April is commonly associated with ...
'', ''Admiral Fell Promises'' can't help but come across as a disappointment."
Track listing
''I'll Be There'' EP
A bonus EP titled ''I'll Be There'' was included with all purchases from Caldo Verde Records' website only upon the album's release date. Three of the four tracks are cover versions, with songs by
Stereolab
Stereolab are an Anglo-French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's music combines influences from krautrock, lounge and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a re ...
,
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (CFTPA) was the musical solo-project of musician Owen Ashworth (born April 22, 1977) of Redwood City, California.
CFTPA was active from 1997 to 2010, and released five studio albums, alongside numerous other re ...
, and
The Jackson 5
The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most ...
reinterpreted.
"I'll Be There" was originally performed live by Kozelek in the aftermath of
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
's
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
.
Personnel
;Sun Kil Moon
*
Mark Kozelek
Mark Edward Kozelek (born January 24, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and occasional actor. He is known as the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon and founding member of t ...
– performance, composition, production
;Other personnel
* Aaron Prellwitz – engineering
* Nyree Watts – photography
* David Rager – design
Chart positions
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Admiral Fell Promises
2010 albums
Sun Kil Moon albums
Caldo Verde Records albums
Albums produced by Mark Kozelek