Mark Kozelek is not afraid of a bit of work. Since the turn of the decade, he’s released four albums under the moniker of Sun Kil Moon and an EP, four solo (or collaborations) albums and seven live albums. And, On Tour: A Documentary was released in 2012, which has an accompanying two disc soundtrack.

Following on from the excellent previous SKM longplayer, Benji and fantastic albums with Jimmy LaValle and Desertshore in 2013 is a tall order, and it’s possible that Kozelek has set himself to tough a challenge.

Songs like opener The Possom and closer This Is My First Day And I’m Indian And I Work At A Gas Station are both fine examples of Kozelek in full creative and story-telling flow. Whereas The Possom feels like an emptying of SKM’s musical arsenal (in a good way), This Is My First Day… is smart and subtle changes in key or feel help gently propel its wonderful metaphor-rich and fascinating narrative. Some of it feels like prose put to music with the descriptive techniques Kozelek employs;

“It’s an ice-cream, April 19
The flowers are in bloom…”

He has the knack of being able to take you directly to where he’s singing about, and with that comes a wonderful intimacy – that he’s singing for you and that you have been allowed into his world. The ability to form that kind of a relationship with your listener is a great thing to have.

The song rolls along serenely for around eight minutes before melting into a watery, dreamy outro with Kozelek speaking over the top. Again, it’s such a personal recollection of events around and following a show where he plays guitar for a friend’s band. He concludes with the line;

“It’s February 24th and I still feel a little high from how good everything felt last night.”

It really does feel good.

It’s not all warm, glowy goodness, though – you could argue that the album is well structured, in that it has a strong beginning, middle and end, but I’d say it is almost too good a song, weaker song, with that pattern repeating. The only songs that break that cycle are With a Sort of Grace I Walked to the Bathroom to Cry and Cry Me a River Williamsburg Sleeve Tattoo Blues.

With a Sort of Grace… is honest garage rock with a compelling riff and a fruity, sleazy halftime blues interval – Kozelek gets to show us some chops and it provides the album with something a bit different at exactly the right time. There’s a beautiful breakdown about seven minutes in where Kozelek talks about the first time he heard Led Zeppelin’s Tea For One and the music forms a perfect marriage with the lyric – feelings of warmth, contentment and nostalgia permeate creating another moment where you feel close to the singer/storyteller.

Cry Me a River Williamsburg Sleeve Tattoo Blues follows nicely as slow, blues jam and sees Kozelek in full on grouch mode.

Universal Themes has plenty to offer and to be fair, it is so crammed full of stories and feelings and ideas that there’s no doubt that it will withstand a lot of spins for longstanding fans. Ultimately, though, it might not provide listeners who are new to Kozelek with the best introduction.

Adam Atkins