Bill Callahan YTILAER 2LP

TAS Rated 5/5 Music, 4.5/5 Sonics in the April 2023 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

From the beautiful to the jarring, intrepid explorer Callahan charts a passage through all kinds of territory, pitting dreams of dreams against dreams of reality. When he makes it back to us, his old friends 'n' acquaintances, we are reminded how much of a world it can be out there - and in here as well, where we live everyday.

Along with delivering the abundance of colors, moods, and first-rate songwriting expected from a Bill Callahan album, YTILAER is more exciting and engaging than his music has been in some time. This is how an expert singer/songwriter captures the tenor of the moment: with songs of timeless quality.

Since ditching the Smog moniker 17 years ago to record under his own name, Bill Callahan has tweaked the elements of his fundamentally lo-fi sound to increasingly sophisticated and pleasing effect. The songs on REALITY juggle and contort folk-rock, grunge, and jazz elements through a basic lineup of acoustic nylon-string guitar and synthesizer, electric guitar, bass, and drums, with intermittent injections of piano, organ, contra-alto clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and backing vocals in arrangements that range from Pink Moon-ish and Harvest-like chamber-folk to thunderous climaxes worthy of God Speed! You Black Emperor. The heart of the music (and the aural center in an airy and kaleidoscopic mix) is Callahan's deep baritone, at once conversational and melodic, foreboding and comforting.