Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle

1. Jim Cain
2. Eid Ma Clack Shaw
3. The Wind and the Dove
4. Rococo Zephyr
5. Too Many Birds
6. My Friend
7. All Thoughts Are Prey to Some Beast
8. Invocation of Ratiocination
9. Void

The tragicomic songs of Bill Callahan are always an engaging listen, and this 13th album touches on many of the themes he has returned to throughout his career. Brian Beattie provides somber accompaniment with a number of string and horn arrangements, and the mood of the record follows the resolutely downbeat tone of Callahan’s earliest ventures as Smog. His deep-throated bellyaching is, as always, laced with various witticisms, and he proves once again that he is a consummate songwriter whose work often resembles some kind of grimly humorous mélange of Leonard Cohen, Jackson Browne and Randy Newman...www.prefixmag.com