While Darius Koski has been slingin' licks for San Francisco punk unit Swingin' Utters for over 20 years, it turns out he's been setting songs aside for a venture of his own for some time. Now, he's ready to reveal a good chunk of those cuts on his first-ever solo LP, Sisu.
Fat Wreck Chords delivers the album on April 7, and it's said to feature 15 songs that explore "a veritable grab bag of acoustic genres." It's further explained that Koski steers away from his punkier tendencies to flirt with honky tonk ("Paper Tigers, Plastic Lions") and surf guitar ("Howls from the Gale"). He also apparently touches upon elements of country, blues, acoustic, indie, bluegrass and folk, and the record is said to feature plenty of "guitar, piano, banjo, accordion, violin, glockenspiel, vibraphone, melodica, ukulele, and percussion!"
"I've always written songs like this (in a genre other than punk rock), but the only outlet I've had for them has always been maybe a song or two on Utters, or Filthy Thieving Bastards records," Koski said in a statement. "I have a lot of material that's just been sitting around for 25 years, with no outlet, and it's been frustrating. None of the songs on Sisu are quite that old, but there are a few that I know I wrote around '99."
You can hear Koski's new direction via a stream of the album's conveniently titled "Listen," which you'll find down below courtesy of Big Takeover. Down there, you'll also find the full tracklisting to Sisu.
While Swingin' Utters are currently touring Europe in support of last year's Fistful of Hollow, Koski has plans to travel on his own later this year. You'll find the Utters' itinerary here.
Sisu:
1. Fond of, Lost to
2. Empty Thing
3. On Leaving
4. Listen!
5. The Sound of Waves
6. Paper Tigers, Plastic Lions
7. Howls From the Gale
8. Sidewalk Serenade
9. Bells
10. Do Nothin'
11. Contacts and Contracts
12. Show Me the Way
13. So Help Me
14. Tension Tank
15. Everybody Leaves
Fat Wreck Chords delivers the album on April 7, and it's said to feature 15 songs that explore "a veritable grab bag of acoustic genres." It's further explained that Koski steers away from his punkier tendencies to flirt with honky tonk ("Paper Tigers, Plastic Lions") and surf guitar ("Howls from the Gale"). He also apparently touches upon elements of country, blues, acoustic, indie, bluegrass and folk, and the record is said to feature plenty of "guitar, piano, banjo, accordion, violin, glockenspiel, vibraphone, melodica, ukulele, and percussion!"
"I've always written songs like this (in a genre other than punk rock), but the only outlet I've had for them has always been maybe a song or two on Utters, or Filthy Thieving Bastards records," Koski said in a statement. "I have a lot of material that's just been sitting around for 25 years, with no outlet, and it's been frustrating. None of the songs on Sisu are quite that old, but there are a few that I know I wrote around '99."
You can hear Koski's new direction via a stream of the album's conveniently titled "Listen," which you'll find down below courtesy of Big Takeover. Down there, you'll also find the full tracklisting to Sisu.
While Swingin' Utters are currently touring Europe in support of last year's Fistful of Hollow, Koski has plans to travel on his own later this year. You'll find the Utters' itinerary here.
Sisu:
1. Fond of, Lost to
2. Empty Thing
3. On Leaving
4. Listen!
5. The Sound of Waves
6. Paper Tigers, Plastic Lions
7. Howls From the Gale
8. Sidewalk Serenade
9. Bells
10. Do Nothin'
11. Contacts and Contracts
12. Show Me the Way
13. So Help Me
14. Tension Tank
15. Everybody Leaves