Mark Kozelek, the prolific (and controversial) songwriter behind Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters, will follow up Universal Themes, his new album that hasn’t been out even a month, with a spoken-word poetry album for charity. Titled Dreams Of Childhood, the album is out October 27 on Caldo Verde.
Kozelek’s site details the unique project in full:
“‘Dreams Of Childhood’ is a collection of 11 poems written by street kids in Argentina, translated by Argentine actor/musician Nicolás Pauls, Federico Novik, Pablo Cubarle and Catalina Morano. Performed in English by Mark Kozelek and in Spanish by Nicolás Pauls. Executive producer Nicolás Pauls. All proceeds will go to La Casa de la Cultura de la Calle (The Streets House of Culture) which is a nonprofit civil organization that seeks the social inclusion of kids with no homes by giving them art, music, theatre and photography classes.”
I’m going to let Stereogum’s Chris DeVille take the backstory on this one because he nailed it:
“The typical redemption arc for an embattled entertainer calls for said entertainer to apologize for their misbehavior and do some kind gestures to get back on the good foot. I wouldn’t expect an apology from Mark Kozelek for all his disreputable exploits of late — most recently sexually harassing a female British music journalist — especially considering the Sun Kil Moon frontman seems to believe he’s the one suffering unrighteous persecution. Similarly, I doubt Kozelek is doing something nice as a way to make up for acting like an asshole. But he’s doing something nice nonetheless.”