Hey, aspiring musicians, when brainstorming a band name, it’s not a bad idea to choose something stupid-simple. At the very least, would you mind considering one that won’t conjure up undesirable associations for me? It’s a totally selfish request, I know, and you’d be serving my synapses alone. Still, if you want to send a list of candidates my way, give me a shout; I’ll happily serve as your focus group of one.

See, whenever I come across something about Sun Kil Moon, my mind jumps to Sun Ra, Soleil Moon-Frye, or the Moonies, and none of the above do I have a fondness for.

My brain has stubbornly refused to retain the fact that Sun Kil Moon is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek, best known as the frontman for the defunct 4AD act, Red House Painters. (See? Awesome band name right there.)

The Sun Kil Moon moniker references Sung Kil Moon, a Korean boxer. The association makes a little more sense once you know that the first SKM album, 2002’s Ghosts of the Great Highway, sports three songs about deceased boxers (though none about Sung Kil Moon, who’s still alive but retired).

My Groundhog Day-like memory when it comes to Sun Kil Moon is unfortunate, and to some degree confounding, since I even mentioned Kozelek’s current band in a post last year about Red House Painters. But today presented a welcome opportunity to align my noggin’ because the title track from the new Sun Kil Moon album, Admiral Fell Promises, was selected as NPR Music’s Song of the Day. This time, Kozelek’s gone solo under the SKM banner, his voice accompanied only by a nylon-string guitar. Hear here:

It’s tunes like “Admiral Fell Promises” that remind me all over again just how much I’m drawn to the gorgeously understated music that Kozelek makes, no matter the name next to the title.

Purchase Sun Kil Moon – “Admiral Fell Promises” via iTunes.