Album Review: Sun Kil Moon - Benji

Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks? Epic miserable-ist Mark Kozelek undertakes two startling challenges on Benji. First, he masters explicitly personal lyrics, delving so deeply that an attentive listener will gain a comprehensive understanding of Kozelek's bad back, sore feet, teen crushes and high school fist-fights. The other innovation is a genuinely happy ode to Death Cab's Ben Gibbard Ben's My Friend which closes the album with a wistful feel and – gasp – a saxophone. Not really his strongest material, but still nothing less than a revolution for Kozelek, truth be told.