Bill Callahan - Woke on a Whaleheart
Tracklist:
- From The Rivers To The Oceans
- Footprints
- Diamond Dancer
- Sycamore
- Wheel
- Honeymoon Child
- Day
- Night
- A Man Needs A Woman Or A Man To Be A Man
When you’re as dark an artist as Bill Callahan has proven to be under both his Smog moniker and on his own, any sort of pep is something to notice. Such is the case on this, one of Callahan’s best albums, as certain tracks are actually upbeat and it keeps one interested in the entire album. There are still the morose tracks of beauty, but you won’t be entirely depressed come album’s end.
Although the album opens with a track that is Callahan by numbers (“From The Rivers to the Ocean”), the next couple of tracks reveal a different side of Callahan, one which listeners will surely be able to warm up to. The second track in particular, “Footprints”, moves with such vibrance that it wouldn’t be bad for a spring walk with the dog. This is a significant step for Callahan, who’s always had excellent lyrics and songwriting at times held back by the morose overtones in his work.
The trend is continued on “Diamond Dancer”, which features a bassline with enough groove that it wouldn’t be out of place on an Interpol track and a vocal harmony which is sure to stick with you even long after the disc has stopped spinning. While I enjoy lo-fi efforts as much as the next man, it also seems that a bit more of a polished sound benefits this album tremendously, perhaps taking a page from his woman’s Ys effort last year, little additions adds layers to each song that you’ll want to listen to over and over again to pick out. On “Diamond Dancer” especially, quickly plucked banjo, and later hymnal violin make the song one of the album’s best.
This is not to say that Callahan isn’t still capable of doing what he has always done so well: somber tracks with a sing-song type of rhythm appear at various points in the album, some even indulging in roots-country elements Hank Williams would approve of. Tracks like “The Wheel” are the best examples of this, with Callahan’s spoken words emphasized by his sung responses to himself. Even these tracks are elevated slightly by added elements, thanks again to a heightened attention to detail.
Although the album is only nine songs long, there is a bit of a dip that occurs in the 6th and 7th songs, as neither of them move in any particular direction and seem to stagnate the album as a whole. Fortunately, “Night”, the 8th track, is one of Callahan’s best; although it is only a scant three minutes, the weight of the track makes it an experience on its own, one that keep bringing you back to the album.
While the rest of the album is an example of a man seemingly happier than he’s been in a while, based on previous recordings, the simple bare-bone piano line that graces this song suggest a man equally as confused about life as a whole. The lyrics of the song follow this trend and are as beautiful as any Callahan has ever written: “we do not know Lord, how things work / we do not know Lord, where you go / in the night, through the door / the door that holds you / out of the blue”. Whereas other Smog songs would question love and its tumultuous twists and turns, this song speaks to an issue everyone is always subject to.
As the track ends, Callahan begins to repeat “we stand under it, but we don’t understand it” a statement that summates what all people eventually have to come to realize and accept, no matter how strong your opinions on religion, or your lack of one, when it comes down to it we are all agnostics.
In keeping with the album’s trend, “A Man Needs a Woman or a Man to be a Man” melds the peppier tone of some of the album with Callahan’s more traditional introspective vocals. The boom-chicka-boom and female choral singing of a Johnny Cash track gives this song a pace that belies its true tone and ends the album on a high note.
MP3:
Diamond Dancer (mp3 removed at label request)
Night (mp3 removed at label request)