On his forthcoming album, YTI⅃AƎЯ, Bill Callahan is accompanied by frequent collaborator Matt Kinsey on guitar, Emmett Kelly on bass/backing vocals, Sarah Ann Phillips on piano/backing vocals, and Jim White on drums. Now, that's a reality we can all get excited about! His first album since 2020's Gold Record, Bill reflects on his process and motivation for YTI⅃AƎЯ thusly:

"I wanted to make a record that addressed or reflected the current climate. It felt like it was necessary to rouse people — rouse their love, their kindness, their anger, rouse anything in them. Get their senses working again. I guess there was already plenty of anger! But we needed a better anger. To get out of this hypnagogic state. Hypnagogic rage. Disassociated rage that destroys the community and leaves only the individual eating themselves alive instead of feeding others. We were born to feed others. We have milk, breasts. We have language, tongues. We have music, ears. All to feed.

At the time it felt like we were coming out of something, getting clear of it. So I was picturing songs that would make sense to take before an audience at this crucial juncture -- venturing out -- where things could go either way. A reintroduction to the basics of life. Of human interaction. Face to face. A new clear vision. A new way. Which is probably just an old way we'd abandoned somewhere back there as we retreated into our screened, blindered existence. Sometimes you forget the most basic things. The biggest things! And it just takes a little nudge to get your head back on track. I wanted sounds and words that made you feel and that lifted you up. But first there was a need to bond, to clear the air. Or to just acknowledge the air. So there is some of that on the record. I went for horns because horns are heralds, triumphs, second line funerals and just breath forced through a metal maze or amusement park slide. And I wanted voices, I wanted multiple voices, not just mine. There is too much of just mine right now. So there are 6 or 7 people singing on this record.

Listening to this record takes one hour. Ah hour sounds like a year to me these days. Taking an hour of someone's life. I fault the internet. I fault ourselves for falling for the internet. An hour is actually lovely, nothing, a lifetime. You have to live that lifetime though in order to appreciate the hour. I'm not suggesting people must listen to this record all the way through in one sitting. It IS sequenced for that particular purpose, though, in case anyone wants to."

Callahan kicks off his tour in the UK this Fall beginning on November 1st, with a newly announced string of California shows later in the month. YTI⅃AƎЯ will be available via CD/CS/Digital October 14th and the 2xLP will be released in 2023.

First Bird
Everyway
Bowevil
Partition
Lily
Naked Souls
Coyotes
Drainface
Natural Information
The Horse
Planets
Last One At The Party

TOUR DATES:

 

11/1/22 SWX Bristol United Kingdom
11/2/22 Roundhouse London United Kingdom
11/3/22 Brudenell Social Club Leeds United Kingdom
11/5/22 Queen Margaret Union (QMU) Glasgow Scotland United Kingdom
11/6/22 Albert Hall Manchester United Kingdom
11/19/22 Sebastiani Theatre Sonoma CA
11/20/22 Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco CA
11/21/22 Rio Theater Santa Cruz CA
11/22/22 Ojai Deer Lodge Ojai CA
11/24/22 The Poetry Church/Guild Hall San Luis Obispo CA *
11/25/22 Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown CA
11/26/22 The Theater at Ace Hotel Los Angeles CA

 

*Special Thanksgiving Show