Sun Kil Moon – April

Red House Painters解散後，主唱Mark Kozelek偕同鼓手Anthony Koutsos與另兩名新成員Tim Mooney和Geoff Stanfield一同組成Sun Kil Moon。Sun Kil Moon以Mark Kozelek為主要創作核心，也可稱上Mark Kozelek個人的一項音樂計畫，延續著Red House Painters些許緩慢哀愁的調性，以民謠為基調譜出長篇幅的歌曲。

08年發行的April為他們的第三張專輯。初次聆聽時著實的就被第一首《Lost Verses》給吸引住，有那麼一段時間就只重複聽著這首，並把其餘的曲目先擱在一旁。《Lost Verses》有著一種恬淡的力量，你可以說聽起來像是一陣四月的涼風吹拂在臉頰那樣的清爽舒適。

在歌詞的書寫上，Mark Kozelek以鬼魂為視點來俯瞰世間景物，他留戀著在世所愛的人及老友，想與他們對話，但又找不到確切能夠溝通的方法，即使距離只有一步之遙，他們還是無法感受到他身為鬼魂的存在，最後只能寫下這些詞句，迷失在天際與海潮之間，歌曲末段突來的電吉他變奏，灰階般的聲響，彷彿是個永不結束的句點，《Lost Verses》有著那麼一點悲淒，卻也表露出情感的真摯。

整張專輯聽來緩慢鬱懷，包裹著詩的韻律，Mark Kozelek低緩的聲線使得歌曲聽來如同吟詠詩詞一般，我們搭配著歌詞聆聽便能發現一種獨特的詩體結構在耳朵展開，專輯中所描述的景色、故事、人物大多殘留傷感，在聽完第八首的《Tonight The Sky》後，心想，這或許是April這張專輯最動人的一首歌，不同於其他歌曲的黯然低迴，《Tonight The Sky》更多是外放出的情緒，副歌結束後，電吉他不斷蜿蜒的顫卻聲響，爾後一段凌亂的吉他單音又回歸主旋律，令人感到絕妙。長達十分鐘的歌曲聽來卻毫不冗長，因為你早已浸入平淡旋律其中，遺忘時間的存在。

有時候會想，自己為什麼會喜歡上這樣的音樂，可能是音樂本身與我內心有相似的東西，以致於互相契合，在Sun Kil Moon音樂中所找到的孤寂情感，好似在我內心不斷被無限放大，最後，那些負面情緒甚至大的讓我看不清自己的存在。



Sun Kil Moon – Lost Verses

I came out from under her warm sheets
Into the brisk late October
If only for one last hope
I wanted my time with you to be over

I m staring up into the sky
While all the raining is pouring down
I m reaching out for your help
But evil beings hold me backwards

All shapes and shadows move in and out
And hover round my bed
Voices arrive and disappear
I want to talk to them

Darkness disintegrates
I m rising; I m rising toward a light
A light leading over hills and meadows

I ve risen up from the dead
With the burning leaves of autumn
If only for one last chance
That all of whom have been defeated
To put on my father s wool coat
To smell my mother s fragrances and perfumes
To find my young brothers and sisters
To never leave or let them go

Houses adorned so beautifully
The Marin headlands song
Lost verses well up my eyes and ears
The lone mandolin strums
On Tamalpais warm spring
The many places we
Lay down in sleepy hidden shadows

I see you well and clear
Deep in the moonlight dear
Your radiant august eyes
They are the suns that rise
They are the light that blinds
They end these lost verses

I came up from under the ocean
Evaporated sea salt water
A mist above the skyline
I haunt the streets of San Francisco
Watch over loved ones and old friends
I see them trough their living room windows
Shaken by fear and worries
I want them to know how I love them so
Foghorns would sound in waking
Is it my voice you hear?
Footsteps are moving across the floor
And you know I m here
The afternoon carries up from the hills and you are well and near
To fall into the light I follow

I feel oh so near
When morning doves appear
And ghosts of April ring
Echo the refrain
Soon finding a place
In these lost verses

They fill the foggy day
They hide the hills away
That steal our time
They are the picturesque night
The casting city lights
On the bay flowing into the ocean glowing



Sun Kil Moon –Tonight the Sky

Her head lay back in blankets soft white down
Her hair warm Autumn colours, floating
Our days were classroom poems, true young love
some nights we roar like lions, some we coo like doves

I left her long ago one summer, chasing dreams
I hummed good sweet explosions? sweet nothings
I broke her heart not knowing she'd return
And graven scars deep in me, forever

I hear my sleeping sister
In the early morning hours
I hear her though it's silent
Standing over me now

Tonight the skies
Will open for you
Mountains and big clouds
Divide us in two

She fell into his arms, his sweet strong kiss
she made her perfect gardens in this?
World that turned its back, shook things round
In time it took our loving sister down

I met my fallen Angel one last time
I promised always through me she would shine
I held her hands, I sunk into her heart
Til powers unrelenting, pulled us apart

I saw my sleeping sister
Rising toward a light
A mist above the skyline
On that neverending night

Tonight bright stars
Are shining for you
Oceans and full moons
Deep midnight blue

I woke up every morning
Not believing her to be gone
Outside the doves and sparrows
Carried on

Building now so sweetly
settled into spring
Outside the kids in their yards
Laughing ?

I loved you like no other
Your eyes I can't erase
Your voice it wakes me always
Pouring down from space

Like warm sun rays
You're turning into
wind sails on cool bays
I'm watching for you

Tonight the skies
Are open for you
Mountains and big clouds
Dividing in two