Album: Sun Kil Moon, April (Caldo Verde)

On my list of criminally neglected Americana auteurs, Mark Kozelek is right up there, battling for supremacy with Jason (Magnolia Electric Co, Songs: Ohia) Molina and Sam (Iron & Wine) Beam (what is these people's problem with their given names?).

'April' is Kozelek's third SKM album, and it follows the mordantly melodic and nakedly beautiful trail he has laid: think Neil Young, had the slacker (rather than the hippy) vibe soundtracked his formative years. At times, Kozelek is an almost ghostly presence on his own record: floating in, around and over these beautiful songs in a soulful and spectral stupor.