Pitchfork

Hard to believe it's been thirteen years since "Drop" closed out Red House Painters' Ocean Beach. Obviously, things have changed dramatically since then, Mark Kozelek's voice perhaps most of all. He sang the originally with a wounded forcefulness that drew the song out to nearly ten minutes. On this live version, recorded recently at Union Chapel in London-- which appears on the rarities CD that accompanies the book Nights of Passed Over, a collection of song lyrics and setlists from throughout Kozelek's career-- his voice has grown deeper, more resigned and introverted. He's no longer casting recriminations on "Drop", but mulling over a predicament, his words reverberating throughout the venue as if sung by the voices in his head. The matter-of-factness with which he delivers the central lines is absolutely chilling: "All the love in an instant makes my life stop / But then my hate for you makes my feelings altogether drop."

Stream:> Mark Kozelek: "Drop" (Live at Union Chapel)
[from Nights of Passed Over; due 04/01/08 from Caldo Verde]