There is a thin line between frailty and sincerity and Bill Callahan walks this line gently with awareness. In fact there is a strong relationship between our weaknesses and the ability to share them sincerely, because everyone knows that sharing our weak part makes us stronger.
His folk music reflects about our strange lives, the impermanence of relationships and paints descriptions of our inner feelings. With the previous Reality (2022) the American songwriter crossed the line between reality and dreams with disarming naivety, giving dreams the legitimacy to shape our life path. My Days of 58 (out for Drag City) is his eighth album and unlike the previous one it is very grounded in reality. In fact in this release he decided to apply the energy of live shows to the recording process: “I kept thinking of it as a ‘living room record. I’m not talking about fidelity at all here. Living room attitude. Living room vibe. Not too loud, not otherworldly. I asked for the horns to be relaxed like someone on the couch playing, not a blast from heaven or hell”.
His mates (Matt Kinsey, guitar, Dustin Laurenzi, sax and Jim White at drums) helped him to discover the deep meaning of the songs while playing them:“the unknown is the thing that keeps me motivated to keep making music. It’s all about listening to yourself and others. A lot of the best parts of a recording are the mistakes, making them into strengths”. The result is a solid body of essential but articulated folk songs; in each of them you can find different solutions and different combinations of sounds in a run-up among guitars, horns, drums.
“Why Do Men Sing” is a languid ballad led by the guitar, his deep voice and a soft chorus; “The Man I’m Supposed To Be” leads us into the darkest side of Bill’s music: a melancholic guitar arpeggio in the service of reflecting on our own expectations and those of others about what we should be. “Lonely City”, with its irresistible repetition of the refrain and a gentle guitar, accompanies us in imagining all the places we can call home: “First thing I do, When I get back to you, Walk around and see what’s new”. “Computer” is a sort of psich-folk experiment in which horns create a chaotic space where the guitar takes center stage, giving the song a dramatic tone.
My Days of 58 is the solid work of an artist on the same journey as us towards self-awareness and understanding the meaning of our daily lives. It asks us to listen to it, caress it, share it.
