Sun Kil Moon: Michi Aceret (viola); Geoff Stanfield (bass instrument); Mark Kozelek (drums); David Revelli (percussion); Anthony Koutsos.

Personnel: Bonnie "Prince" Billy (vocals).

Whether working under his own name, with his 1990s band Red House Painters, or with subsequent outfit Sun Kil Moon, Mark Kozelek has never strayed far from his initial stylistic template of melancholy, hypnotic folk rock full of Nick Drake-like acoustic fingerpicking and wistful, honeyed vocals. This remains true on APRIL, the third Sun Kil Moon album, though Kozelek has refined his approach for maximum impact. From start to finish, APRIL is a creature of sadness and beauty--a 74-minute-long sigh, echoing intimate, autumnal whispers (despite the springtime title) into the night. Alternating between delicate acoustic ballads and long, fuzzed-out, Neil Young & Crazy Horse-influenced dirt-road jams (a juxtaposition he's been perfecting since the 1996 Painters album SONGS FOR A BLUE GUITAR), Kozelek delivers a fully matured version of the moody sound he first explored 16 years earlier.

Rolling Stone (p.83) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he music is long on understated beauty: 'Harper Road' sets Kozelek's stoned croon over mellow guitar-picking..."

Spin (p.104) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Powered by mordant but melodic vocals [and] authoritatively picked guitar....A beautifully depressing array of funereal folk."

Uncut (p.111) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Few chronicle heartbreak with such methodical, forensic attention."

Alternative Press (p.131) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Finger-picked acoustic guitar and Kozelek's echoing, old-soul vocals paint haunting snapshots full of solitary introspection and wistful nostalgia."

Magnet (p.117) - "Will Oldham's ghostly backing vocals add another shade of darkness to 'Unlit Hallway,' and the starkly hypnotic 'Heron Blue' recalls an Appalachian murder ballad..."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.103) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his third Sun Kil Moon album demonstrates Kozelek spinning luminescent textural webs on original compositions which, like the ravishing Moorestown, rank among his very finest."