Red House Painters - Priest Alley SongAlbum: Songs for a Blue Guitar [1996]
red house painters was primarily the vehicle of singer/songwriter mark kozelek - the evocative, compelling king of rare emotional intensity. kozelek laid his soul bare on record, conjuring harrowingly acute tales of pain, despair, and loss; unlike nick drake, and other poets of decay, his autobiographical songs walked their tightrope without a net - forsaking the safety offered by metaphor and allegory, he faced his demons in the first person, creating a singularly haunting body of work unparalleled in its vulnerability and honesty. "songs for a blue guitar", appeared in 1996 and although kozelek was the only bandmember to appear on the record, it was nonetheless issued under the red house painters name in order to give the group a push as it headed into the second phase of its career. to make a long story short, that didn't happen, but the benefits that resulted from his freedom from the group setting quickly became evident. "songs for a blue guitar" compiles a diverse group of styles, including gently hypnotic folk in "have you forgotten", and country-rock, both slow (title track) and fast ("make like paper"). mixed with his traditionally beautiful and sad material are cover songs that bring light to the red house painters' typically shadowy songs. the deep beauty and eclecticism on this album made it another artistic triumph for kozelek and was a shimmering sign of things to come.
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