CD Reviews: Sun Kil Moon

This sixth full-length release from Mark Kozelek's long-time Sun Kil Moon project shouldn't be as appealing as it is, a middle-aged man's reflections on mortality, referencing the modes of death of family members, friends and hometown characters not being the most inviting of prospects.

But Kozelek's baldly direct tales of sad and sometimes bizarre demise (an uncle and a cousin both died in separate fires caused by exploding aerosol cans) are so grounded in his honest response to loss that it's impossible to dismiss the album as exploitative miserabilism.

Instead, the outpouring is somehow uplifting.