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Bill Callahan, "Woke on a Whaleheart"
For his umpteenth album, Bill Callahan drops his Smog/(Smog) band designation and now goes by his given name, if only to distance himself from the gloom, misogyny, and misery of his previous incarnation and start fresh. Although his subject matter is indeed sunnier and his songs more polished, he thankfully retains his sense of humor and knack for wordplay.
His maturation isn't unexpected considering the trajectory of his last couple of albums, but here Callahan is in full bloom. No longer hiding his dark impulses behind a fabricated band name, he now steps naked and confident into the light. The title obviously reflects this change, as does the cover with its garish bright colors and smiling characters.
Light and salvation in the abstract sense inform the themes of "Honeymoon Child" and "Day," so it's not too difficult to think that Callahan has at last found some sort of happiness, or at least some comfort in his own skin. He also invokes water as life on the opening song "From the Rivers to the Ocean," which he has done before, but it's a progression from the past in that now he embraces the fluidity and the changes, realizing that they can sometimes be uplifting rather than defeating. However, this positivity shouldn't be mistaken for blandness as can be the case with other artists. A song title like "A Man Needs a Woman or a Man to be a Man" proves that his tongue is as firmly in cheek as ever.
Yet the most striking element of the album is the music itself. The instrumentation and arrangements are more diverse and accomplished than most anything Callahan has achieved previously, and much of this is indebted to Neil Michael Hagerty. Although I’m not a fan of his recent solo work, Hagerty's masterful touch on this album is impressive. The album's stand out track is easily "Diamond Dancer," also its first single. It's a relentless, disco-driven song and the violin, anxious acoustic guitar, and subtle electric guitar give it just enough edge to balance some of the album's softer elements.
Changing from embittered to embracing isn't easy, especially in front of an audience accustomed to if not expecting a certain degree of moroseness, and perhaps it's this reason alone that compelled Callahan to make a change. No matter the reason, he has made one of his richest albums yet.
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