Background
Okumaya devam et...
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| ==Background== | ==Background== |
| During a lull in activity with the reformed [[The Wolfhounds|Wolfhounds]] in the late 2010s, David Lance Callahan began playing solo acoustic gigs in London, resulting in the release of his first solo single "She Passes Through the Night" as part of the 2018 "Seven at 77" singles series by Where It’s At is Where You Are Records. This was followed in 2019 by a second single, "Strange Lovers", on [[Slumberland Records]]. | During a lull in activity with the reformed [[The Wolfhounds|Wolfhounds]] in the late 2010s, David Lance Callahan began playing solo acoustic gigs in London. These resulted in the release of his first solo single "She Passes Through the Night" as part of the 2018 "Seven at 77" singles series by Where It’s At is Where You Are Records. This was followed in 2019 by a second single, "Strange Lovers", on [[Slumberland Records]]. |
| Whereas Wolfhounds had given vent to Callahan’s electric garage rock instincts, and [[Moonshake]] to his experimental post-punk/art rock production ideas, he had also been a long-standing fan of American folk artists such as [[Tim Buckley]] and [[John Fahey]], as well as having a broader interest in [[West African music|West African]] and Eastern European music. Solo work provided an opportunity to pursue this line of interest, with the [[Covid-19 pandemic|2020 pandemic]] offering space for completion. "It all came together during lockdown, when there wasn't a lot else to do other than catch up on my books, film and write songs really… there were a few things already recorded, but yeah, once we weren’t allowed to leave the house I basically finished off more than a double-LP’s worth of material and "*****" Tiny Global to agree to put them out." | Whereas Wolfhounds had given vent to Callahan’s electric garage rock instincts, and [[Moonshake]] to his experimental post-punk/art rock production ideas, he had also been a long-standing fan of American folk artists such as [[Tim Buckley]] and [[John Fahey]], as well as having a broader interest in [[West African music|West African]] and Eastern European music. Solo work provided an opportunity to pursue this line of interest, with the [[Covid-19 pandemic|2020 pandemic]] offering space for completion. "It all came together during lockdown, when there wasn't a lot else to do other than catch up on my books, film and write songs really... there were a few things already recorded, but yeah, once we weren’t allowed to leave the house I basically finished off more than a double-LP's worth of material and "*****" Tiny Global to agree to put them out." |
| The album’s press release stated that "Callahan has outdone himself on this long-awaited solo album, the results of which merit the sort of deep dive best explained with with ample time and a quality turntable. Whether ''English Primitive I'' is a product of the past year's isolation or of a long-simmering brew only now ready for dissemination is something Callahan has yet to reveal. Whatever its origins, the album is the work of a massive talent. Wolfhoundian riffage offered enough ramshackle charm to somewhat obscure Callahan's darker, more penetrating writing. Likewise, Moonshake's musically bi-polar approach disguised his underlying political impulse. Here Callahan's lyricism finally, indelibly, proves him to be among the finest British pop craftsmen. This is his masterwork, a mélange of what has been called 'mutant Eastern, West African, folk, blues and post-punk influences' . . . an improbable cross-cultural gumbo, yet one which coalesced into a swirling, kaleidoscopic psychedelia of emotion unlike any other record in this era. As with any recording favouring the avant-garde – works like ''[[Balaklava_(album)|Balaklava]]'', ''[[Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka]]'', and ''[[The Heart of the Congos]]''– one might expect that the impact of ''English Primitive I'' will be revealed slowly, over a much longer span of time than the too-often workaday product of today's independent music scene. With this album, Callahan takes his place alongside cult heroes [[Robert Wyatt]], [[Scott Walker]] and [[Cathal Coughlan]] as a prime example of seemingly limitless artistic expression.“ | The album’s press release stated that "Callahan has outdone himself on this long-awaited solo album, the results of which merit the sort of deep dive best explained with with ample time and a quality turntable. Whether ''English Primitive I'' is a product of the past year's isolation or of a long-simmering brew only now ready for dissemination is something Callahan has yet to reveal. Whatever its origins, the album is the work of a massive talent. Wolfhoundian riffage offered enough ramshackle charm to somewhat obscure Callahan's darker, more penetrating writing. Likewise, Moonshake's musically bi-polar approach disguised his underlying political impulse. Here Callahan's lyricism finally, indelibly, proves him to be among the finest British pop craftsmen. This is his masterwork, a mélange of what has been called 'mutant Eastern, West African, folk, blues and post-punk influences' . . . an improbable cross-cultural gumbo, yet one which coalesced into a swirling, kaleidoscopic psychedelia of emotion unlike any other record in this era. As with any recording favouring the avant-garde – works like ''[[Balaklava_(album)|Balaklava]]'', ''[[Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka]]'', and ''[[The Heart of the Congos]]''– one might expect that the impact of ''English Primitive I'' will be revealed slowly, over a much longer span of time than the too-often workaday product of today's independent music scene. With this album, Callahan takes his place alongside cult heroes [[Robert Wyatt]], [[Scott Walker]] and [[Cathal Coughlan]] as a prime example of seemingly limitless artistic expression." |
| <ref>[https://www.roughtrade.com/en-gb/product/david-lance-callahan/english-primitive-i David Lance Callahan - ''English Primitive I''] - quoted description at Rough Trade website</ref> | <ref>[https://www.roughtrade.com/en-gb/product/david-lance-callahan/english-primitive-i David Lance Callahan - ''English Primitive I''] - quoted description at Rough Trade website</ref> |
| <ref name=bandcamp>[https://davidcallahan.bandcamp.com/album/english-primitive-i Press release/description on David Lance Callahan Bandcamp page]</ref> | <ref name=bandcamp>[https://davidcallahan.bandcamp.com/album/english-primitive-i Press release/description on David Lance Callahan Bandcamp page]</ref> |
| The core of the record was Callahan performing as singer and solo electric guitar player. There were also also contributions from brass and woodwind player [[Terry Edwards]] (of [[Gallon Drunk]]/[[PJ Harvey]] band, and a longstanding Callahan associate), former [[Pram (band)|Pram]]/[[The Nightingales (band)|Nightingales]]/[[The Fall (band)|Fall]] drummer Daren Garratt, singer Katherine Mountain Whitaker (Evans the Death), and Alison Cotton (vocal/viola player with [[The Left Outsides]]/[[Eighteenth Day of May]]).<ref name=”bandcamp”></ref> Some songs also employed the Iskra Strings Quartet, while others incorporated [[sampler (musical instrument)|sampler]] in a similar manner to Callahan’s Moonshake work. | The core of the record was Callahan performing as singer and solo electric guitar player. There were also contributions from brass and woodwind player [[Terry Edwards]] (of [[Gallon Drunk]]/[[PJ Harvey]] band, and a longstanding Callahan associate), former [[Pram (band)|Pram]]/[[The Nightingales (band)|Nightingales]]/[[The Fall (band)|Fall]] drummer Daren Garratt, singer Katherine Mountain Whitaker (Evans the Death), and Alison Cotton (vocal/viola player with [[The Left Outsides]]/[[Eighteenth Day of May]]).<ref name=”bandcamp”></ref> Some songs also employed the Iskra Strings Quartet, while others incorporated [[sampler (musical instrument)|sampler]] in a similar manner to Callahan's Moonshake work. |
| ==Releases== | ==Releases== |
Okumaya devam et...