Smog - Rain on Lens
(Drag City)
(Rain on Lens, Callahan's latest record, is a slight move away from some of the darker and more tense records he has been releasing the last few years. Sure, some of the lyrics on Dongs of Sevotion, Knock Knock, and Red Apple Falls were funny at times... sometimes ridiculous, but even with his inclusion of hand claps, a children's chorus, and that dancing baby from Ally McBeal (wait, maybe not all silly ideas belong to him), the songs themselves sound surrounded in darkness and with a thick, unspoken intensity. On the new album, while there aren't many lyrics that are funny, the music seems to poke its head out of the darkness once in a while to enjoy the light. Not to say the music is always upbeat and poppy--it isn't--but (possibly) thanks to the additional musicians, Rain on Lens doesn't have the same impending sense of doom.
While slightly on the lighter side of things, that doesn't mean that the songs are of lesser quality. In fact, the majority of the songs on Rain on Lens are as wonderful as any of the songs on the last few records. Songs like "Song," with it's pummeling military drum beat and repetitive guitar riff numbing you into submission, and "Keep Some Steady Friends Around," with it's unique combination of guitar and violin melodies, reminds me why I love Callahan's writing so much.
Though his song writing is amazing as always, the real revelation on Rain on Lens isn't Callahan, it's the astonishingly beautiful violin accompaniment of Jessica Billey (Bonnevill and guest spots on many other albums). Billey's violin playing perfectly compliments Callahan's simple and repetitive guitar parts and creates unsettling ambience in the background during the more sparse moments of the record.
While not a perfect record ("Short Drive" sounds like it should be on one of the many bad Bruce Springsteen records), the wonderful collaboration of Callahan and Billey (as well as the other guest musicians) more than makes up for Rain on Lens' weaker moments.)
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