His first band, Red House Painters, could be downcast at times, but Mark Kozelek's subsequent project, Sun Kil Moon, is even more exquisitely melancholy. Fingerpicking acoustic guitar, sometimes backed by a small, stripped-down combo, and singing in a muted, almost conversational tone, Kozelek spins quietly harrowing stories enlivened by their plainspoken detail. In “Carissa,” a wayward cousin turns her life around and dies in a senseless accident; “Micheline” topples heartbreaking tragedy into more tragedy. Even the comparatively upbeat “Among the Leaves” is as much about mistrust as it is tenderness.