A River Ain't Too Much Too Love is Bill Callahan's 12th LP under the Smog moniker. He has been producing material of bleak grace as far back as 1988 cassette-only release Macrame Gunplay. The latest offering was recorded in 10 days at Willie Nelson's studio in Texas and is self-produced. Callahan changed his working methods on the new record. He had written all the material before entering the studio where he has often composed on the hoof before. The songs are loosely based around the theme of rivers.

Callahan's voice is an enquired taste, a low baritone croon that recalls the bard of Broadway Leonard Cohen or a countrified Lou Reed. Smog has at times been linked in with the alt country movement but the sound on this record is bleak and harsh modernist folk. It contains none of the melodic flourishes or sunshine harmonies that course through the majority of Americana. The songs are stripped down to their bare bones - a plucked or strummed acoustic guitar, brushed drums, hi-hat splashes and unfussy bass provide the settings for the songs. It's the bleak barren badlands of the America. Iron And Wine and Will Oldham in his various guises traverse similar terrain.

The album seems to be bound by lyrical themes of travelling, childhood and family ties. He mentions his sisters and his mum and dad with affection on more than one occasion. Childhood and youthful memories surface on The Well, In The Pines and Drinking At The Dam.

It's fitting that On Rock Bottom Riser Callaghan sings "I bought this guitar to pledge my love to you", as it's the sound of his guitar carries that the LP and infuses the record with a sense of rustic contemplation. The delicate finger-picked melodies are like dust dancing in morning sunlight; John Fahey jamming with Woody Guthrie. Slight, beautiful and as fragile as brightly painted eggshells.

The devil is in the detail, so although the songs sound sparse and empty, there are wonderfully gentle surprises woven into the textures. The piano notes and descending bassline that add colour to Rock Bottom Riser and the fiddle that whistles through In The Pines are examples of where Callaghan's skills as an arranger shine.

The album is also not just one-paced. Say Valley Maker is driven along by The Dirty Three's Jim White's shifting drum patterns. Starting out slowly and building to a marching pace, the addition of an aching cello refrain and blissful backing vocals lift the song and its themes of redemption and rebirth. It's aptly summed up when Callaghan sings "bury me in fire and I am gonna phoenix".

In The Pines, a rewrite of Leadbelly's Where Did You Sleep Last Night, refines the blues as a folk memory both in sound and subject matter. I Feel Like The Mother of The World strides forth on jangling guitar strings, while opening track Palimpsest's guitar chords chime like a clock at high noon. Drinking At The Dam revolves around a ghostly vocal clip and a strummed acoustic guitar. It's the tale of cutting school, drinking warm beers and yelling abuse, it could be a Bruce Springsteen song rewritten by his country cousin.

In all, this album is a brave and stark exercise in pared down musicianship and song writing that will take up residence in your brain if you let it in.

share:  Facebook | Digg | del.icio.us | more

Mercury Prize 2009 nominees