Credit: Hauntedcopshop on YouTube However, a curious casual listener of Smog needs to start elsewhere. After Callahan got some albums under his belt, his experimentation turned from reckless abandon of structure to cobbling together elements for complete songs; snippets of ideas bloomed into somber, brooding pieces.
Smog Discography Rare Records
The switch reflected how much richer and deeper his music had become over the years, both literally and figuratively: His songwriting, which used the imagery of the American West in thoughtful yet rugged ways that spoke to the present as well as the past, had become increasingly contemplative, while the drawl he used to deliver them had grown lower and slower over the years. Callahan introduced this refined version of his music with 2007's Woke on a Whaleheart, a flowing blend of country, funk, and soul that echoed his newfound ease as a writer and singer. On the albums that followed, Callahan took his sparse yet evocative style in directions ranging from the gentle drift of 2009's Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle to the stark, driven meditations of 2011's Apocalypse. A new chapter of his music began with 2019's intimate Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest, which suggested that even a committed outsider like Callahan could find happiness. This warmth extended to less overtly autobiographical albums like the following year's Gold Record.
The switch reflected how much richer and deeper his music had become over the years, both literally and figuratively: His songwriting, which used the imagery of the American West in thoughtful yet rugged ways that spoke to the present as well as the past, had become increasingly contemplative, while the drawl he used to deliver them had grown lower and slower over the years. Callahan introduced this refined version of his music with 2007's Woke on a Whaleheart, a flowing blend of country, funk, and soul that echoed his newfound ease as a writer and singer. On the albums that followed, Callahan took his sparse yet evocative style in directions ranging from the gentle drift of 2009's Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle to the stark, driven meditations of 2011's Apocalypse. A new chapter of his music began with 2019's intimate Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest, which suggested that even a committed outsider like Callahan could find happiness. This warmth extended to less overtly autobiographical albums like the following year's Gold Record.
Smog Discography Rare Books
- Smog offers the listener quality, but also quantity. In 1990 Smog began self-releasing albums of discordant noise rock, highly instrumental and brooding. Sewn to the Sky, Smog’s first effort, isn’t terrible, but it reminds me of Sonic Youth without any of the interplay. It’s not particularly interesting.
- You can probably add Bill Callahan to that list as well. In his former incarnation as Smog, and his recent rebirth as just plain ol’ Bill, he released a unbroken string of beautiful albums, from the sombre confidence of Knock Knock, to Supper’s hope-filled folk, to A River Ain’t Too Much Too Love’s downright profundity.