Review - Bill Callahan

Bill Callahan
Dream River

I got into Bill Callahan quite recently - only a few months ago - and I've got to say, I can't believe I'd never heard of him before. He's a stunning songwriter, kind of like a male Joanna Newsom. His songs have the same sort of ever-shifting structure and complex lyrics as hers, and like her, he's one of the greatest lyricists around right now. It normally pisses me off to a disproportionate level when people say that a songwriter is "really a poet," because it carries with it the assumption that poetry is inherently better than song lyrics - someone can't just be a great lyricist, they have to be a "poet," even though they clearly aren't. A poet is someone who writes poetry. A songwriter is someone who writes songs. Bill Callahan is not a poet - he's a songwriter. But he could be a poet if he wanted to, and I'm pretty sure he knows that. His lyrics actually work like poetry, and the music he writes could easily work without vocals. Other than Newsom, I can't think of another songwriter of whom this can be said. Dream River, his new album, is another addition to an astonishing body of work. The music is intricately crafted, complex but never wanky, the lyrics are some of the best ever written (and I do not say that likely) and, to top it all off, there's the voice. That deep, rich voice, that Callahan weilds like a precision tool - his every syllable is perfectly weighted, given exactly the correct emphasis. His singing style is amost like speech, or like a poet performing his work. He kind of reminds me of a cross between Scott Walker and Lou Reed. Together, the lyrics, music and vocals make up what will almost certainly be the best album released this year. Listen to the album via the link above.

Rating: 10/10