Darius Koski

About

Sisu by Darius Koski The list of punk frontmen gone solo is an extensive one, and it seems to grow exponentially each year. It’s no surprise, really: More and more bands find it difficult to survive on the road, forcing singers to continue on with nothing more than an acoustic guitar as a way to pay the bills if nothing else. But that’s not the motivation behind Darius Koski’s debut solo album. Koski is best known as the guitarist/vocalist of well-respected San Francisco street-punk band Swingin’ Utters, a group formed in 1998 and one he joined in 1990 and has been a permanent fixture in ever since. It’s not like the Utters have been slowing down, either: The band have released three full-lengths in the past four years and recently completed a tour of packed houses with Lagwagon. No, it’s not out of financial necessity or declining relevance that Koski is releasing Sisu . He’s releasing it because he has to. “Honestly, I’ve been writing songs in this general style for as long as I’ve been writing songs. I have more songs like this than I do punk rock songs,” he begins. “I’ve been wanting to have an outlet for it for so long —for longer than I’ve been with the Swingin’ Utters, basically. And I just hadn’t done anything with it. I didn’t really know how I was going to release it, I hadn’t done much live, I have problems remembering lyrics… So I’ve been putting it off for so many years, but it’s finally coming together, and I’m thrilled about it. I’m totally going to go for it.” Unlike most solo records from singers of punk bands, Sisu is a stylistically diverse and decidedly un-punk affair: The album shifts between stripped down roots music (“Tension Tank”) and honky tonk (“Show Me The Way”) to wispy, accordion-driven instrumentals (“Sidewalk Serenade”), subdued lounge-pop (“Empty Thing”) and folk (“On Leaving”), leaving very few musical stones unturned. The album’s roots date back to 1999, when Koski wrote two of Sisu’s standout tracks, “The Sound Of Waves” and “Cont