Sun Kil Moon

The idea of covering an entire album is often pointless and a sign of desperation by an artist, but as Pussy Galore proved with their version of Exile on Main Street, it can be interesting if executed properly. When Mark Kozelek announced he had recorded a full-length tribute to Modest Mouse, it seemed like an exciting venture, much like his well-known AC/DC covers. Unfortunately, Tiny Cities doesn’t work out the way you’ll want it to. In fact, it’s pretty much what you’d expect, but it isn’t until you actually to hear it that the disappointment sinks in. Isaac Brock is definitely one of the most intriguing songwriters in America, especially because of his colourful vision of the country, but in the hands of such a docile voiced singer like Kozelek, the despair, the disgust and the bewilderment of Brock’s storytelling doesn’t translate. Such viscerally powerful songs like "Dramamine” and "Trucker’s Atlas” appear stripped of their magnetic imagery, as the Red House Painter sings over top of a solitary acoustic guitar. Such minimal and delicate re-workings make Tiny Cities almost unrecognisable from the originals, which to some may seem fresh, but to these ears it feels like a soulless experiment that is only interesting because of the subject being covered.