Bill Callahan Gold Record

You heard it here first – it's the Gold Record we always knew Bill Callahan had in him! In summer 2019, Bill returned from a silence of years – now, he's raring to go with another new one already. The abiding humanity of latter-day Callahan is highlighted by dark plumes of caustic wit upending standards of our everyday life and the songs that celebrate it: the job, the wife, the TV, the neighbors. Bill slips easily into his characters, whether they're easy people or not – and the cross-hatch of their light and shadow is unpredictably entertaining.

Basics were recorded live, with Matt Kinsey playing guitars and Jaime Zurverza holding it down on bass. Drums and horns were brought in for a couple songs. Six out of the ten tunes were done first take; overdubs, when needed, came equally quickly. Listening, one hears the intuitive cohesion coming together richly, back of Bill's titanic voice spread across the stereo spectrum: the gentle-yet-spirited conversation of Bill and Matt's guitars, the subtle percussing of bass and drums and oddments of trumpet, woodwind and synth, striking notes decorous and discordant, sounding for all the world like the naturally occurring sound meant to accompany and express lives lived everywhere.