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Smog |
| A River Ain’t Too Much To Love |
| Drag City | 2005 | Album |
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Recognition as a pioneer of the lo-fi revolution has always escaped Smog, alias of the overtly enigmatic and melancholic presence Bill Callahan. His catalog represents a depth of self-referential, often rudimentary 4 track works, from 1988's cassette only Macrame Gunplay to the more accomplished singer-songwriter work of later years like Julius Caeser and Red Apple Falls. While nothing in the Smog catalog represents as an absolute necessity, fans have for upwards of ten years, relished in the irreverent, sometimes gloomy, always witty work of one of alternative music's under represented masterminds.
Now A River Ain't Too Much to Love drags itself forward, an album never shy about its country roots. It seems apropos considering Callahan has recently relocated to Austin Texas, and finds himself living amid the burgeoning new American rock and cinematic underground and that change of scenery has added another layer to his Smog project. The songs on A River represent some of the finest alt-western music since Son Volt, tinged with Callahan's signature twists of humor. Songs like "The Well" and "Palimpsest" play like Nick Cave turned onto Willie Nelson. As the rest of modern music - especially the country set - takes itself painfully serious, an album like A River Ain't Too Much to Love comes along and sprawls out on its own rare and untimid dichotomy. Smog isn't just a wiseacre; he's the wise chronicler of a world without reason as is evidenced by songs such as "Rock Bottom Riser" and "I Feel Like the Mother of the World", lovely acoustic rock with string and piano accompaniment.
It's likely that Smog's catalog will continue to embellish, turning inward and outward on itself. Callahan has just such a rich and lucid grasp of his craft. In another ten years, perhaps one looking back on that line of work will call A River Ain't Too Much to Love the necessary highlight, that record so total in its scope and exaction that it cannot be missed. Maybe not, as such a prediction would short change the next evolution and its tender possibilities. |
| Erick Mertz |
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