Jason Isbell is someone who I’d heard of through his association with the Drive-By Truckers, but had never heard any music by him. Then last year I heard his song ‘Live Oak’, which led me to the album Southeastern (2013). ‘Elephant’, like ‘Live Oak’, is a good indication of Southeastern as a whole: affective, never sentimental, crafted songs, which use country music as a touchstone.
My younger self would lament the fact, but due to the way I now find out about and then listen to music, new albums take their time to filter through to me, and I’m usually a year behind in my listening. This meant, when I started thinking about what albums I most enjoyed this year, I found the majority were pre-2018.
Merry Christmas all.
I ask for your indulgence because I only chose a Smog song a few weeks ago. But ‘Palimpsest’, as Nico’s song did last year, suits this afternoon’s winter’s day.
This is not only because of the lyrics, but because in ‘Palimpsest’ Bill Callahan holds the listener, with a simple repeated guitar figure and the measured drawing out of his words, in a holding pattern as the winter holds; not terrifying and coldly, but careful and still; and together, always, with the anticipation of being let go.
‘Palimpsest’ is from what is, I think, one of my favourite Smog albums – A River Ain’t Too Much To Love.
I have seen Bob Dylan live. I wasn’t sure at first. I remembered seeing him perhaps at Wembley Stadium, because I had a vague memory of talking with my friend Tim as we made our way out of the gig. But I thought this might have been a dream, a false memory. But no, I was there. I found the ticket stub:
One of those things; no reason I can point to. I’ve just been listening to Neutral Milk Hotel’s album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea a lot over the past couple of weeks.
I was listening to William Elliot Whitmore’s new album, Kilonova, this week; remembered an EP called ‘Hallways of Always’ he recorded with Jenny Hoyston of the band Erase Errata.
The EP doesn’t seem to be included in Whitmore’s discography – and I couldn’t find it on Spotify – so I guess it’s gone out of print or something? Track it down if you can. If memory serves, ‘Feast of A Thousand Beasts’ is the opening track.
