Description:
(2022) Bill Callahan - YTI⅃AƎЯ
Review:
Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest felt like a hugely important album in the Bill Callahan catalogue in that it signalled a return to music and songwriting that wasn’t always guaranteed; there was a point after the birth of his son where Bill couldn’t see a way back in. Shepherd was a wonder in many ways, a big twenty-song intimate epic that wasn’t afraid to let its acoustic music sprawl and let loose. In comparison, 2020’s Gold Record felt brief, minimalist and tightly focused, allowing its power to be realised slowly, with each vignette burrowing into the senses and staying put. Both are masterpieces, and YTI⅃AƎЯ feels like a natural follow-on and another step into this particular chapter of Bill’s career. As ever with his writing, the lyrics warrant close reading, with gently delivered, heartfelt emotion (‘I started writing your death song long before you were gone’) blended with pointed lines delivered with a pinch of laconic humour: ‘Big pigs in a pile of  and bones / owe more than they’ll ever own.’ Spiky issues mix with mundane details throughout the album and are duly tackled, masked and allegorised, with the music ebbing and flowing, screaming and whispering. Take the shifting Naked Souls; the piece starts with an intro akin to the lovely Writing from Shepherd with added kind piano chords and moves in the space of six minutes into a stormy tantrum of squealing guitar, thumping bass, unhinged trumpet and shards of keys, with Jim White’s loose percussion putting on serious muscle in the second half. Drainface interrupts its gentle tune with snaps of attitude from high keys and distorted guitar, along with Bill’s almost snarling vocal in places. There is a sense of catharsis and cleansing about some of this music that brings to mind the storm from Summer Painter on Dream River. But the beauty far outways the aggression, which feels very much the intention. Natural Information is a rollicking track, with quick, bright guitar and backing vocals forming a buoyant trip. Planets is a hushed number for the most part, but puffs of distortion and unnerving piano give it an eerie and uncertain edge, accentuated by a child’s backing vocals and wailing brass. The opening song First Bird is a lovely meditation on a growing family. Still, even that idyllic picture is given the minutest of edges, with a lower guitar line coming in after the sweet opening bar to add depth and shade to the music. Not everything is as it seems on this record; it will surprise, challenge and delight you, but the overwhelming feeling is one of allowing the senses to open and let life flow in. In short, another masterpiece from Bill Callahan. — folkradio.co.uk
Track List:
01 - First Bird
02 - Everyway
03 - Bowevil
04 - Partition
05 - Lily
06 - Naked Souls
07 - Coyotes
08 - Drainface
09 - Natural Information
10 - The Horse
11 - Planets
12 - Last One At The Party
Media Report:
Genre: indie-folk, singer-songwriter
Country: Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
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