Bill Callahan – ‘My Days of 58’ album review: A patchwork of passing thoughts
Bill Callahan has always had a lot to say. Much of it has reflected on mortality and how we live our lives. Now, on his 24th album (including those with Smog), following a brush with cancer, swirling ideas and existentialism are even more abundant.
The Skinny: At 59-years-old, with a career that stretches back for miles, Callahan clearly knows his way around a song. As do his band (guitarist Matt Kinsey, saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi, and drummer Jim White). But there are moments on My Days of 58 when that effortless command over craft actually edges towards complacency. The record can feel loose and scattered. Of course, that’s a natural extension of the diary-like intent, but upon first listen, that lack of coherence can throw-off the casual listener.
It’s when you cosy-up to tracks like ‘Stepping Out For Air’ that the album opens its arms to you. As Callahan gazes up at the sky – something he has often been known to do – his wistfulness feels warming and lived in. In these contemplative moments, he has the ability to move you and happen upon lines, delivered in his typical throwaway fashion, that stir you deeply with wonder.
But in truth, he’s done that plenty of times before, and nothing on this fresh offering quite reaches the soul-rattling benchmark of masterstrokes like ‘One Fine Morning’. It goes without saying that ‘One Fine Morning’ wasn’t neat – Callahan’s brand of songwriting has always been roughshod with his plaintive acoustic strummed with the naturalistic pattern of an instrument lost in thought – but those old masterpieces gather with gleaming intent.
That sense of forward movement is missing on My Days of 58, and the result is a record that opens the door for a listening neighbour, unfamiliar with Callahan’s work, to dismiss it as ‘rambling’. In patches, that feels exactly like the objective. As the saxophone mingles in a jazz-like way with a wavering melody, you can become engrossed in the maudlin stream of consciousness and feel struck by its poignant originality.
Conversely, you can also find yourself walloped by the magnificent bluntness of lines like, “From now on, I start living my life as though the next day I’ll be dead”, only for a dissonant solo to follow in its wake and arrest momentum. This diaristic sprawl might be by design, but objective design alone doesn’t absolve the artist from the responsibility of coaxing the listener along with them.
Fellow songwriters might marvel at the endless sonic shifts in the musical tapestry Callahan unspools in the most laid-back maelstrom of ideas perhaps ever put together, and it asks important questions about humanness at the right time, but after a tough day, idle fans will likely lean on ‘Too Many Birds’ for their fix of Callahan’s ramshackle folk rather than this patchwork of passing thoughts.
The Verdict: While My Days of 58 might play out like a diary right down the postmodernist motif of moods shifting from one day to the next, it’s certainly no Blue when it comes to coherent song craft. But what is? The album might be messy, but there are certainly still moments that make it a welcome addition to the back catalogue of a modern great. And it is rich with meaning to boot.
Standout Track: ‘Stepping Out Far Air’
Release Date: February 27th, 2025 | Producer: Bill Callahan | Label: Drag City
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