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Review
While the indie-rock influence of the band’s hometown is evident, so too are echoes from much further west – at times this record is reminiscent of Roger McGuinn or Crosby, Stills and Nash, if said artists were still relative young guns, and if they kept off the weed. Because Califone, you see, have their wits together. And despite occasional bows to contrivance, there are grooves in abundance, repetition utilised to drive points home. Ape-Like is virtually a work song, and Benuel, with a bit of spit and polish, could almost make it onto the Grand Ole Opry. Well, maybe that’s stretching it, but there is much to connect with.
All My Friends… features a wonderful array of instrumentation: bottleneck guitar, frailed and picked banjo, fiddle, as well as the more esoteric Optigan and Stylophone which, as the album moves on, sit increasingly comfortably on the occasionally unnerving and always unpredictable percussion and effects.
Tim Rutili, who sings and plays guitar and keyboards, has put together a feature-length film also titled All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, which apparently will dovetail with the album. It was shot in an old house in Indiana in the spring of 2009 and stars Angela Bettis (Girl, Interrupted, May, Carrie). It’s going to be shown at film festivals in 2010 and the band will perform the soundtrack in support. It all sounds a bit ambitious, but it’s clear that this is a band that acknowledges few limitations.
Which is as it should be – but keep writing great songs boys, and don’t be sidetracked into having too much fun with the toys. --Nick Barraclough
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Customer Reviews
The Art School Dance Goes On Forever".
(Pete Brown and Piblokto 1970).
I've always had a soft-spot for slightly left-of-centre
music. You know how it is. You put that treasured new
album on for your friends to listen to and they stare at
you as though you've grown horns and a third eye !
"Wolfie you have GOT to be kidding!!" Well, no actually.
Tim Rutili and his chums have turned in a very fine set
with their new album 'All My Friends Are Funeral Singers',
(apparently the musical half of a two-part project presaging
a film, sharing the same title, which I am led to believe will
burst into the world of vision some time next year).
The fourteen tracks in the collection are a highly varied
and uncompromising bunch of compositions. Uncompromising
does not equate with inaccessible however.
Sure, some of it is a bit po-faced and knowingly obtuse;
opening track 'Giving Away The Bride', whose big beats and
bass whoops reminded me of some of Bjork's recent creations,
is a striking case in point. By which I mean to say I like it!
Other songs are full of infectious good-humour.
The country stomp of 'Ape-Like' is an absolute delight.
So too 'Bunuel', a strangely affecting
tribute to the great surrealist film-maker.
Lots of different instruments feature throughout
the project and contribute to its richly textured
and dynamically divergent moods and atmospheres.
Messrs Rutili, Becker, Adamik and Massarella are
a talented ensemble, no doubt about it.
'Alice Marble Gray' is a small but perfectly-formed
composition. Stripped-down to almost nothing, the
simple guitar and percussion arrangement is visited
here and there by strange and magical sonic intrusions
and disembodied spirit voices. Enchanting.
'Krill' seems to contain just a little bit of the soul
of Neil Young. Warm, camp-fire harmonies and a chattering
xylophone frame one of the album's finest melodies.
The half-heard narrative at its heart is enigmatic and haunting.
Final track 'Better Angels' delivers an truly ecstatic conclusion.
Single-minded, elusive, intelligent and hugely enjoyable,
Califone really have created an honest and distinctive
piece of approachable art with this captivating recording.
Highly Recommended.
Music journo witterings about how this was their most accessible record yet caused me some concern but I needn't have worried (everyone knows music journalists have cloots for ears)- whilst the songwriting is perhaps more fully rounded than before their unique brand of deconstructed folk-blues remains as richly textured and idiosyncratic as ever.
A definite contender for album of the year.
Not all bands front load their albums so beware!
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