Album: Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Artist: Bill Callahan
Born: Silver Spring, Maryland
Released: April 2009
Genre: Alt Country
Bill Callahan (aka Smog) was a musician I came to appreciate late in life. A good friend of mine is a huge fan and introduced me to some of his early albums, starting with 1997's Red Apple Falls. I haven't listened to much of his very early, lo-fi experimental stuff but Red Apple Falls and Knock Knock (1999) -- both produced by Jim O'Rourke -- are really impressive, full of great songs like I Was A Stranger and Cold Blooded Old Times. Bill Callahan's music reveals its charms slowly and the clever use of repetition has a hypnotic effect, in much the same way as krautrock, while the lyrics always keep the listener on his toes. His deadpan humour and delivery is reminiscent of Leonard Cohen, but Callahan's more grounded and less spiritual in his approach than Cohen. I've listened to many of his albums from the early part of last decade, recorded as Smog, but find them a little hit & miss. My favourite is probably A River Ain't Too Much To Love (2006), which features a guest appearance by Joanna Newsom (an old flame of Callahan's, along with other musicians like Cynthia Dall and Cat Power) and some of his best songs, including Drinking At The Dam. But, of all Callahan's music, the albums I've enjoyed most are the ones he's releasing now, including Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, Apocalypse (2011) and Dream River (2013), which all seem to focus in on two of his favourite themes: nature and human nature.
Music label, Drag City, has some of the best modern folk and country musicians on its roster, with Callahan accompanied by the likes of Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy), Alasdair Roberts and Joanna Newsom. None of the label's music is on Spotify, so instead I've posted a great "tiny desk" concert that Callahan recorded back in 2009, which features three of the songs from this album, including a wonderful rendition of Too Many Birds. Callahan's very deep baritone voice is an acquired taste, but no more so than Dylan or Tim Buckley; personally, I love it. Despite its undoubted manliness, there's a real tenderness to his singing at times, especially on his later records on which he sounds older and wiser. As he says on the dreamy Rococo Zephyr, "Well I used to be kind of blind / and now I can sort of see". This and Eid Ma Clack Shaw are two of the record's undoubted highlights, the brilliant guitar and piano playing on the latter matching the lyrics, which perfectly captures an experience some people might relate to; dreaming of something perfect (in this case, a song), then waking and trying to capture it but later finding what you wrote down was nothing more than gobbledygook (hence the song title). The great arrangements, often based around a lock-tight folk or country rhythm lightened by musical motifs, help to create the album's pastoral sound. While this record sees Callahan contemplating relationship breakdown and religious torment (notably on closer Faith/Void), his most recent album, Dream River, finds him in a much more content frame of mind, especially on the touching love song, Small Plane.
Bill Callahan (aka Smog) was a musician I came to appreciate late in life. A good friend of mine is a huge fan and introduced me to some of his early albums, starting with 1997's Red Apple Falls. I haven't listened to much of his very early, lo-fi experimental stuff but Red Apple Falls and Knock Knock (1999) -- both produced by Jim O'Rourke -- are really impressive, full of great songs like I Was A Stranger and Cold Blooded Old Times. Bill Callahan's music reveals its charms slowly and the clever use of repetition has a hypnotic effect, in much the same way as krautrock, while the lyrics always keep the listener on his toes. His deadpan humour and delivery is reminiscent of Leonard Cohen, but Callahan's more grounded and less spiritual in his approach than Cohen. I've listened to many of his albums from the early part of last decade, recorded as Smog, but find them a little hit & miss. My favourite is probably A River Ain't Too Much To Love (2006), which features a guest appearance by Joanna Newsom (an old flame of Callahan's, along with other musicians like Cynthia Dall and Cat Power) and some of his best songs, including Drinking At The Dam. But, of all Callahan's music, the albums I've enjoyed most are the ones he's releasing now, including Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, Apocalypse (2011) and Dream River (2013), which all seem to focus in on two of his favourite themes: nature and human nature.
Music label, Drag City, has some of the best modern folk and country musicians on its roster, with Callahan accompanied by the likes of Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy), Alasdair Roberts and Joanna Newsom. None of the label's music is on Spotify, so instead I've posted a great "tiny desk" concert that Callahan recorded back in 2009, which features three of the songs from this album, including a wonderful rendition of Too Many Birds. Callahan's very deep baritone voice is an acquired taste, but no more so than Dylan or Tim Buckley; personally, I love it. Despite its undoubted manliness, there's a real tenderness to his singing at times, especially on his later records on which he sounds older and wiser. As he says on the dreamy Rococo Zephyr, "Well I used to be kind of blind / and now I can sort of see". This and Eid Ma Clack Shaw are two of the record's undoubted highlights, the brilliant guitar and piano playing on the latter matching the lyrics, which perfectly captures an experience some people might relate to; dreaming of something perfect (in this case, a song), then waking and trying to capture it but later finding what you wrote down was nothing more than gobbledygook (hence the song title). The great arrangements, often based around a lock-tight folk or country rhythm lightened by musical motifs, help to create the album's pastoral sound. While this record sees Callahan contemplating relationship breakdown and religious torment (notably on closer Faith/Void), his most recent album, Dream River, finds him in a much more content frame of mind, especially on the touching love song, Small Plane.
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