Reviews: Sun Kil Moon, Leona Lewis

Reviews: Sun Kil Moon, Leona Lewis

Sun Kil Moon 'April': Aidin Vaziri | It's been more than 15 years since Red House Painters' demo tape found its way into record stores, and the defunct group's singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek is still chasing the same childhood memories, contemplating the same lost loves and dreaming about the same San Francisco streets. On his third outing under the Sun Kil Moon banner, Kozelek, left, returns with an album of rare warmth and immediacy, where intensely personal lyrics hang on hazily magnificent melodies. Driven by luminous guitar flourishes and his world-weary voice, the songs on "April" rank among his most personal yet. "My thoughts will pause, my throat will swell/ When her name is spoken," he sings on "Moorestown," one of the disc's prettiest moments. Alternating between epic Neil Young-style guitar blowouts - a handful of the songs come in around the 10-minute mark - and gently swaying folk ballads, Kozelek has managed to reinvent himself by returning to the very same spot where he started, with youthful scrapes now turned into real scars. Kozelek plays April 26 at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre.

Leona Lewis 'Spirit': Aidin Vaziri | Leona Lewis is about to become inescapable. Backed by Simon Cowell and Clive Davis, endorsed by Oprah and already the titleholder for the fastest-selling British debut album ever, the photogenic 23-year-old singer arrives in the United States as a fully functional pop object. Producers Dallas Austin and Jam & Lewis help ignite the throbbing R&B ballads, dignified gloom and gravity-defying vocal gymnastics on "Spirit," a collection of songs that effectively updates what Mariah Carey was doing in 1993 with added studio luster. The first single, "Bleeding Love," co-written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, is the best thing offered; the rest of the windswept tunes helpfully reveal how Lewis clinched "X Factor," Britain's version of "American Idol."