When Mark Kozelek left his Red House Painters moniker behind, his first post-Red House release What's Next To The Moon was a fascinating project consisting entirely of stripped down acoustic AC/DC covers. Personally, I thought that album to be genius. Paring away the rawk and replacing it with spare, but warm, inviting arrangements, Kozelek's singularly deep and melancholy voice drew attention to Bon Scott's lyrics. Never thought of as being particularly profound, Scott's words waxed poetic under Kozelek's care. Unfortunately, most rock bro's missed the point and consider it to be wussy and lame.

When Kozelek started his "plugged in" Neil Young inspired band Sun Kil Moon in 2002, that year's album Ghosts Of The Great Highway showed that Kozelek actually did have electric chops to go with his already proven acoustic merits. So when I heard about his new Sun Kil Moon project Tiny Cities, an all Modest Mouse covers album, I got quite excited to hear what Isaac Brock penned tunes would sound like all hippie-jammed out.

Tiny Cities however, is not at all jammy. Hell, there isn't even an electric guitar anywhere to be found here, and I must say, the first couple of times I listened to this album I was pretty disappointed that Kozelek called this a Sun Kil Moon record. Familiarity breeds a better appreciation in this case, and you have to be impressed by these arrangements - particularly when you consider that these are, for the most part, some of Modest Mouse's more obscure titles. The coolest thing about this album is you actually get to hear Brock's lyrics up close and personal - which, if you're a Modest Mouse fan, you know that's hard because Brock tends to stumble on and blurt out his lyrics.

The fact that Kozelek can take a messy tune like "Four Fingered Fisherman" off of Modest Mouse's very first album Sad Sappy Sucker and turn it into a fragile picked acoustic beauty is an incredible thing to behold. "Grey Ice Water" turned mariachi style and "Convenient Parking" played fast and dark are also two of the best here. Unfortunately, not all the covers work. Some, like "Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes," "Trucker's Atlas" and probably the most well known song here "Ocean Breathes Salty" just kind of meander aimlessly, and are fairly uneventful. Also at barely a half hour long, Tiny Cities is over before you even have a chance to get into its groove. Still and all, Tiny Cities is interesting and will have even the most jaded listener coming back to analyze it again and again.