Almost two years to the day after Bill Callahan’s solo debut Woke on a Waleheart, the former Smog frontman is releasing the follow up, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle. The new record continues Callahan’s ongoing departure from the low-fi rock of his roots toward an increasingly polished sounding folk/country sound. One thing that hasn’t changed much is his dark and introverted lyricism, which is amongst the most dynamic in the country when the man is on his game. While the esoteric poetry of Eagle is by no means easily accessible, Callahan’s vivid naturalistic imagery (with the help of his impassive baritone) often enough carries the sentiment of the songs even if they aren’t entirely linear in meaning.

In his progression towards a smoother sound, Callahan has added French horns and a string section to help get his disposition across, though for the most part they take the backseat to his ever present gravelly musings on life, loss, and nature. “Jim Kain” puts the violins to good use in one of the album’s standout tracks, seamlessly accompanying the guitar pickings and giving a sense of weightiness to the otherwise nearly impenetrable lyrics. “Rococco Zephyr” also incorporates strings and horns well, accompanying a pastoral meditation on a woman relaxing by a river (the river is personified by the songwriter himself). It also adds in a delicate female vocal part that is a nice contrast to Callahan’s rough edge.

Though “Eid Ma Clack Shaw” is his songwriting at its most opaque (at one point Callahan recalls a dream in which he writes down the “perfect song” only to wake and recite it as gibberish) the song’s key theme of yearning to escape painful memories gathers together the stray threads and weaves them into a tapestry of violin crescendos and a marching piano beat. It also exhibits the dark brooding balladry that originally put Callahan on the map with lines like “love is the king of the beasts/and when it gets hungry it must kill to eat.” It’s one of the record’s best tracks, even as the narrator seems to morph without reason from human to horse and then back again. It has that magic touch that causes Callahan to make sense even when he’s not making sense, similar to poetry that makes you feel a certain way without your understanding entirely why.

(uncredited photo via MySpace)

Unfortunately Eagle isn’t without its flops. “Invocation of Ratiocination” is an experimental piano and synth track with no vocals except for some muted wailing. Callahan’s songwriting is his biggest strength so it’s a little puzzling why he would throw away nearly three minutes to spooky nonsensical instrumentation. Equally beguiling is “Faith/Void,” an almost ten minute ode to atheism. I like a little anti-religious ranting as much as the next guy, but after hearing the song’s refrain “It’s time to put God away,” for the 50th time I was ready to put Bill Callahan away.

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle may not be Callahan’s very best work, but it is still far from his worst (and better than most singer/songwriters out there). At its best, the record shows that his lyricism is evolving to not only manifest more complexity, but more grace and aesthetics as well. Like all humans, he occasionally misses his mark. Luckily with Eagle when, he does miss, it’s not too far off the target. And when he hits, he’ll knock you off your feet.

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