What's Next To The Moon

What's Next to the Moon is a truly bizarre venture. Mark Kozelek, the long-standing maudlin singer-songwriter behind San Francisco's introspective Red House Painters, has taken it upon himself to record blanched, acoustic versions of 10 songs by veteran Aussie metal monsters AC/DC. Kozelek is no stranger to cover versions, having previously tackled tracks by Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel and Yes, but this particular pairing seems a risible mismatch. It's hugely to his credit, then, that Kozelek bleeds from Angus Young and the late Bon Scott's primal songs a beauty and melancholy that one would simply never have thought existed. Shorn of the originals' noisome bluster and bravado, tracks such as "Walk All over You" and "You Ain't Got a Hold on Me" acquire a plangent sensitivity, and even carnal howls such as "Love att First Feel" and "Bad Boys Boogie" resonate with a touching vulnerability. It's a peculiar, unlikely triumph—who would have ever imagined that AC/DC were writing such tender, perfectly-formed gems before ladling their heavy-duty riffs all over them? Now, let's just see Kozelek in Angus's school shorts and cap.