Down Colorful Hill

by

Red House Painters

Edit

When I first bought this CD, I was actually pretty angry that it only had six songs. However, several of those songs are quite long, and so at least in terms of length, you don't get the feeling of just listening to an EP. It's also a concept album, even more than the other RHP records, because it is probably the most concentrated on one issue: emotional breakdown.

The album begins by taking apart the issue of growing older and dealing with the anxiety of losing youth. Then, you get two tracks both concentrating on the difficulties of effectively communicating emotion to a lover in a very intense relationship and the consequences involved. "Down Colorful Hill" is at the heart of the album and sums up the desperation Kozelek feels in his "prayers for success". (This could possibly mean the success of his career, as well, but more than likely it's just success in general.) "Lord Kill the Pain" is a very sarcastic song that wishes the rest of the world would just die so Kozelek wouldn't have to deal with anyone or anything anymore. The real genius of the album comes in with the closer "Michael", which is perhaps the most touching song, lyrically, I have ever come across. In it, Kozelek recounts his youthful experiences with his friend who ended up become a worthless bum many years after their friendship. For Kozelek to label such a person as his "best friend" shows an insight into human love that most people, let alone musicians, don't have the capacity for.

I fell in love with the lyrics of this album first, and then slowly I came to love the music. I don't know if it's the best place to start if you're trying to get into RHP, though. I think Rollercoaster or Retrospective are probably the best places to start. I highly recommend DOWN COLORFUL HILL to the already-interested RHP/Kozelek fans.

DOWN COLORFUL HILL was the debut of Red House Painters, Mark Kozelek's exploration-of-angst band that put out some of the most haunting music on the 4AD label. While it is very immature compared to the albums that came after it, in fact this is the band's demo tape for the label, DOWN COLORFUL HILL does give a glimpse of the potential of Kozelek and the skilled musicians Anthony Koutsos (drums), Gordon Mack (guitar), and Jerry Vessel (bass).

In "24", Kozelek expresses fear of his own mortality and the feeling that his life is amounting to nothing. It is slow but by no means boring, in fact its pace matches the lyricism perfectly.

The highlight of the album is definitely "Medicine Bottle", an elegy for a broken relationship that goes for nearly ten minutes. In it, Kozelek sings of the pain of losing a girlfriend because she could not understand that he, like all people, could not put into words his deepest thoughts. The listener is amazed as he sings "I do not want to lose / the thrill that it gives me to look out from my window / and scowl at the houses from my world in the bedroom. / It's all in his head she read / in a girlfriend's self-help book..." It was remarkable how Kozelek could express the angst so many men feel between adolescence and 30.

"Japanese to English" is ambitious and musically brilliant, and closely follows "Medicine Bottle". It does suffer a bit from Kozelek's failure to consistent match the beat of the lyrics to the instrumentation, but the listener doesn't notice it much under the right-on-target drumming of Koutsos and the the lush guitar.

Unfortunately, some of the album is not as strong. "Lord Kill the Pain" is so dull as to be unlistenable. "Michael", a tale of a friend lost to deliquency, is difficult for the reader to grasp if he or she has never been in the same situation.

DOWN COLORFUL HILL is probably not the best introduction to Red House Painters. Their first self-titled album, referred to as the "Rollercoaster cover", is an easier listen and includes the perfect "Katy Song." However, if you've enjoyed other RHP albums, DOWN COLORFUL HILL is worth getting for "Medicine Bottle" alone.