LP, Drag City, 2013
Overview
In an interview around the release of Dream River, Bill Callahan said he wanted it to be “the last record you could listen to at the end of the day, before you go to bed, around midnight.” So for my first listen of the album I crawled into bed with my headphones and did just that. Even though my intention was to give the album an attentive listen, I often found my thoughts drifting away from the music and onto other things going on in my life and other. My mind would go on some weird tangent and a personal or philosophical question would pop into my head, and then eerily some lyric would immediately follow that was a direct answer to my question. This happened multiple times throughout the album, making me feel like the music was listening and responding to me more than I was to it. I experienced a full cycle of emotions during this listen, including crying at one point and a heartwarming sense of contentment by the end of it. Ultimately this is a beautiful album for contemplation, reflection, and introspection, and showed me that sometimes albums fare better when they’re not under the analytical microscope. “I have learned when things are beautiful, to just keep on”
