| · In the book of (Smog), Supper sticks out as Callahan’s most open, humorous and human chapter to date.
With Supper, (Smog), a.k.a. Bill Callahan, gathers together a six-piece band featuring the ghostly backing vocals of Sarabeth Tucek, Ken Champion’s light-fingered pedal steel and the Dirty Three’s Jim White on drums. While (Smog)’s previous record, Rain On Lens, was brightened considerably by similarly band-based compositions, the group caught on record there didn’t mesh quite as well as the one conscripted here.
Having made a career out of dwelling in a dour darkness, Callahan surprises us on Supper by sounding like he’s having a good time – fun, even. In album opener "Feather By Feather," he jokes, "When they make the movie of your life/They’re going to have to ask you to do your own stunts/Because nobody can pull off the same shit as you/and still come out alright." Meanwhile, "Butterflies Drowned In Wine" is (Smog)’s poppiest number since Knock Knock’s "Cold-Blooded Old Times." Considering Callahan’s catalogue of twisted love songs (for example, "Came Blue" or "I Break Horses" from the recent rarities collection Accumulation: None), the full-on earnestness of the almost-cute "Our Anniversary" is a genuine shock to the system.
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