YTI⅃AƎЯ
The contradiction of Bill Callahan’s 2010s output is how an artist seemingly so stoic and withdrawn could be so completely in love with everyday life. His performances get more nuanced and his metaphorical power richer every album, whether it’s the image of his infant daughter suspended angelically above the ground because everyone wants to carry her around (“First Bird”), or the way a horse inside a house reminds him of the way we have to ”bow our heads to get in and out of what we’re living in”—a mix of American surrealism and Buddhist humility he can safely call his own. And for a singer who once said that the only time he felt part of the world is when he was alone in his room (Smog’s “Ex-Con”), now he can’t wait to get out with the stroller for another trip around the neighborhood (“Natural Information”) with a horn section and backup singers in tow. Peace, love, and fun—and evidently hard-won.
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.
On his third solo album in as many years, the wise and stoic singer-writer extolls the virtues of the sacred and the mundane.
Reality may well be Bill Callahan's least accessible album in some time, but sees the dense layering and lengthier songs come back, and a gratifying return to the style which suits his rich, aged voice
Between the well-earned domestic bliss of Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest and the laconic storytelling of Gold Record, things seemed peaceful in Bill Callahan's musical world in the late 2010s and early 2020s -- then along came YTILAER.
Masterful songwriter Bill Callahan shares an open-hearted and invigorating new collection of songs
What is the opposite of reality? Is it a dream? Or a phantasm of the truth, simply another version of reality, bent and manipulated to suit the trappings of time?
The one-time misanthrope returns with beautifully understated reflections on dreams, death and the human condition
YTILAER by Bill Callahan: an analogue delight from the veteran songwriter that won't win new fans but will please the old guard
YTI⅃AƎЯ by Bill Callahan album review by Tom Wilson. The singer/songwriter's new full-length is now available via Drag City and DSPs
The US singer-songwriter turns his experiences of love and contentment into a kind of beatific philosophy – tempered by his awareness of the forces that threaten it