Bill Callahan (Smog)

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Key tracks:

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  1. Universal Applicant
  2. Dress Sexy At My Funeral
  3. Diamond Dancer
  4. Night

Label: Rough Trade Publishing

Read Description:

A distinctive, classic songwriter with translucent lullabies and disjointed lyrics.

Bill Callahan, AKA Smog, has been around for a long time - long enough to become one of those artists that enjoys considerable success and a worldwide fan base whilst still retaining for each of his fans that he is their own discovery. Callahan writes translucent lullabies with often very poetic images or disjointed lyrics that somehow still seem accessible and with a sense of innocence despite their starkness.

Callahan’s songs are often based on seemingly simple structures but layer upon layer builds them up to their heartbreaking conclusions. His singing is strikingly characterized by his baritone voice and the frankness of his delivery. This music hooks you in and keeps you there.

Callahan's latest release "Apocalypse" really stresses all of these points, the beauty here is rougher, meaner, darker and at times is as emotionally intense as anything he has previously released. Thought provoking lyrics create rustic imagery throughout throwing you into a world where nothing happens twice.

Releases we represent:

  • Woke on a Whaleheart | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2007
  • Rock Bottom Riser | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2006
  • A River Ain't Too Much To Love | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2005
  • Supper | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2003
  • Accumulation : None | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2002
  • Rain on Lens | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2001
  • Dongs of Sevotion | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2000
  • Knock, Knock | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 1999
  • Red Apple Falls | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 1997
  • The Doctor Came at Dawn | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 1996
  • Wild Love | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 1995
  • Julius Caeser | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 1993
  • Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2009
  • Apocalypse | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2011

Quotes:

"Wonderfully poetic" The Telegraph

"...a record of grand hopes and epic imagery, and powerful, uplifting music--the most accomplished of his 20-year career" Mojo

"...imaginative like a good dream--not the kind some of his older records intimated, the kind in which you’re walking but can’t move forward" New York Times

Tracks included on the following samplers: