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Bill Callahan’s Smog release another collection of sharply observed country-tinged tunes – and it may just be their most upbeat recording to date.

Supper by Smog

Some eleven albums in, Bill Callahan’s Smog continues a journey into unsentimental story songs with Supper - a surprising record with more of an upbeat country style than any of his previous albums.

A master of his own uniquely ‘loose’ singing style Bill Callahan’s music is firmly in the tradition of the likes of Leonard Cohen or the Palace Brothers’ Will Oldham and at time reminiscent of the ‘talking’ song style of recent Lou Reed albums.

Filled with pauses that can seem unnatural and a little jarring at first listen his vocals can seem languid, struggling and failing to reach the tune around which they’re wrapped, his verses often run on long past the point at which tunes straight-jacketed by the conventions of the three minute pop song might have reached for the scissors. But if Smog are an acquired taste, Supper is perhaps the softest, most palatable and accessible album they’ve yet produced.

Easy Listening?

Album opener Feather By Feather finds Smog at their most charming – I say ‘their’ because much of this new album features a rarity for a Smog record - two vocalists. Sarabeth Tucek provides sweet two-part harmonies alongside Bill Callahan’s distinctive tones, that take the sound of Smog into new directions that could easily find this album the band’s biggest audience yet.

Self-produced, Supper was recorded by Jeremy Lemos during August and September of 2002 and mastered in the UK, at Abbey Road studios, no less. The new album finds the Smog sound becoming almost lush – pedal steel guitar, Hammond organ, cello combine with vocal invention - off-kilter harmonies and "pom pom" vocal refrains on Truth Serum - and even the sound of fireworks, on Driving. It’s near instant accessibility might mean this album strikes some fans of the band as Smog in easy-listening mode – it is gentler than usual – or this may just be proof that the fans have just become hardened over the years...Supper features soft pedal steel guitars, female vocals, fluttering guitars and even a sentimental, almost comfy relationship ode on Our Anniversary.

Truth Serum

On one stand-out track - Truth Serum - harmonies and humour collide beautifully to bring us 5 minutes plus of Smog at their very best. Perhaps this should be the next single? It may be little long for radio, granted – but Radio 1 picked up on Cold Blooded Old Times a few years back (and not just John Peel either!), so who knows? I would defy anyone to hear Bill Callahan singing "Honey I love you, and that’s all you need to know" and not have a smile on their face.

This contentedness and assurance in the characters populating the songs is a million miles away from the distraught, abandoned Smog characters of tracks like All Your Woman Things (from The Doctor Came at Dawn). And this is key – the record sounds hopeful and happy, the experience of listening to the songs is the same – it’s a tone that is quite infectious.

"When they make the movie of your life, they’re gonna have to ask you to do your own stunts." (Feather By Feather).

This is a record for all those who may have skipped over Smog in the past, a joyful upbeat record that wrong-foots all those with the misconception that Smog is an outlet for dour, miserable tunes. Upon repeated listenings these enduring, joyful, confessional songs will shine their appeal to the least initiated. Full to the brim with sharp observations, heart-warming sentiment and – because this is still Smog, after all – often discomfiting intimacy, this is 45 minutes of classic songwriting. These nine melody-filled tunes prove what fans of Bill Callahan have known all along - the kid’s got heart.

Early Smog recordings released initially in the USA have now been re-issued as CD’s by Domino here. These include: Sewn to the Sky, Forgotten Foundation, Julius Caesar, Burning Kingdom and Wild Love. Notable recent EP’s include Kicking a Couple Around (featuring the magically eerie I Break Horses and the heart-rending loneliness of Back In School and Your New Friend) and the Strayed EP – complete with early cassette only tracks of ambient noise and racket that places Smog some distance away from the public’s perception of the band.

The Doctor Came at Dawn, Red Apple Falls, Knock Knock, Dongs of Sevotion (with the great standout track Dress Sexy at My Funeral - in which Bill Callahan implores his imaginary wife to do just that, in the event of his death – a cheery little number!), Rain On Lens, the mini-LP ‘Neath The Puke Tree and the collection of oddities that was last album Accumulation: None (which became the first Domino record to crash into the official Danish album charts - at number 51!) are all still available.

Supper is out now, on vinyl and CD, from Domino.

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