Albums of the Decade - 39. Sun Kil Moon - Amongst The Leaves (2012)

 39. SUN KIL MOON - AMONGST THE LEAVES (2012)

Perfect time to post this, as autumn flows and dark nights go noir. Leaves are everywhere and no local municipality can sweep them away.

This singer-songwriter was an absolute treasure find last decade, with this essentially a double album full of cultivated wonders that this listener can really mellowly harvest.

Amongst the Leaves is a lot more understated than the much more commended follow-up Benji - this one floated my boat a bit more due to its length and breadth - it is a double disc, if I can use that term any more.

Moaning about touring the UK, through typical Yankee eyes, gushing over street-cats and lambasting poor journalism - this album has it all for a top chestnut of observational folk music. 

Albums of The Decade - 57. Sun Kil Moon - Benji (2014)

57. SUN KIL MOON - BENJI (2014) 

An epic album of sardonic and often tragic circumstances - capturing euthenasia, adolescence and people popping off this earth in the blink of an eye. His second cousin dying from taking out a can of aerosol that exploded and burned her to death, an ode to his Mother, an ode to his Dad, his Dad's friend Jim Wise - a convicted husband for helping his poorly wife die at her bed, a mentally handicapped friend named Micheline and his own regrets about bullying a kid at school - this isn't an easy listen - but it's beautiful and beguiling.

Albums of 2012 - 15. Sun Kil Moon - Among the Leaves

15. SUN KIL MOON - AMONG THE LEAVES
Mark Kozelek used to be in Red House Painters, a folk band created in 1989. I know of the name but have never checked out their back catalogue. Instead I got into Kozelek a bit late, very late through his Sun Kil Moon project after stereogum.com praised this album.

This shit's lovely. It's a biggie of 17 songs and he sings about his cats, his old tours, England sucking, getting in through the door and having backache. It's a songwriters album about songwriting. When I listen to it, I smell the seasons. It's comforting without being dull, spellbinding without being fantastical. The instrumentation is stellar. Listen to it, he's a legend and not a bell-end.