Austin Sound

Bill Callahan’s first album sans Smog is a predictably polarizing affair. For an artist who helped defined lo-fi throughout the nineties, and whose 2005 release A River Ain’t Too Much to Love was one of the best folk albums of the year, Whaleheart is jarringly produced by Neil Michael Hagerty. Driven by big beats, jangly electric guitars, and swelling violin courtesy of Elizabeth Warren, the album justifies Callahan’s dropping of his former brand name, and the new direction, however unsettling at first, promises a new path that may open up some of his best work, even if alienating some fans.

1/12/07
Bill Callahan, who has confused promo folks all fall with whether to book him as Smog or Callahan, has finally decided to just officially drop the moniker. With his new album Woke on a Whaleheart, scheduled for release April 17th on Drag City, the artist formerly know as Smog (nee (Smog)), will embrace his birthright, though the exact reason behind the name change hasn’t been mentioned. We’re actually more curious about who’s responsible for the name of that album! Smacks of Newsomness if you ask us.

In fact, the tracklist gave us a little concern as well:

01 From the Rivers to the Ocean
02 Footprints
03 Diamond Dancer
04 Sycamore
05 The Wheel
06 Honeymoon Child
07 Day
08 Night
09 A Man Needs a Woman or…