Under both the Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon brand and also his own name, Mark Kozelek has spent the last fifteen years steadily compiling a wealth of material, eight full length albums, a handful of eps and many appearances on live records and compilations. Kozelek’s harrowing autobiographical lyrics give unflinchingly detailed accounts of pain, despair and hope while the lengthy accompanying music is slow, intense and dissonant. As time has passed, his music has become more acoustic and folk-infected, while his lyrics now seem obsessed with memory, geography and time.

From 1992 to 1996 Red House Painters released a series of acclaimed albums on the prestigious 4AD label, showcasing Kozelek’s intense songs. These songs were pieces that defied conventional structure. His lyrics were poetic and plainspoken. He wrote about what he knew and the band played along. An early song, “Katy Song” was a landmark. Written about the ongoing struggles of a major relationship in his life, the song is among Kozelek’s most sublime. The almost martial rhythm melds into a slow gait as the guitars swirl and build. Like most of his melodies, the tune is simple, with the feeling that each note has been specifically arranged for maximum impact. The song dissolves into a wordless “Hey Jude” singalong, nearly mirthful considering what came before.

Following the early success of Red House Painters, legitimate comparisons to Nick Drake, Tim Buckley, Leonard Cohen and Van Morrison were made. Yet these were artists Kozelek had never paid much attention to, drawing his inspiration from the classic rock he listened to growing up in Ohio. The impression these songs left on him are seen in his drastic reworkings of AC/DC songs on the album Whats Next to the Moon. The album comprised only of AC/DC covers are radical rearrangements of the originals which removed the Bon Scott-penned lyrics from their hard rock context and placed them into gentle acoustic “folk ballad” settings. This can also be seen on Tiny Cities, an album of covers of indie rockers Modest Mouse. Here Kozelek draws out the moods and words of 11 Modest Mouse songs and transports them from their visceral world of jittery beats and fervid sheiking to a bubbling water plane of subtle melody.

However it is his original work which is the most captivating. Songs such as “Have You Forgotten?” which was featured on the Vanilla Sky soundtrack (a movie he also played a acting role in) perfectly demonstrates how moods and memories are captured in song. In November 2006, Koezelek released a live album titled Little Drummer Boy under his own name. On the album’s two disks, he plays songs from his solo career, covers, and material from the catalogs of both Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon.

Mark Kozelek plays in the Roisin Dubh, Galway on Saturday, the 3rd of November.