All My Friends Are Funeral Singers by Califone
By Xtine • Nov 22nd, 2009 • Category: Music Reviews
All My Friends Are Funeral Singers by Califone
Released by Dead Oceans
All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is the nineth album from Chicago’s Califone. The album starts with off “Giving Away the Bride” which is my favorite facet of Califone’s discography, the experimental mucked up side of their music. But that’s the pinnacle of their intrusive beats and post-rock curiosity. From there it slides down towards their rootsier-aspect, such as “1928″ which reminds me a of more rugged Iron & Wine.
Though All My Friends… visits the more mellow side of Califone, that’s not to say that this album couldn’t be one of my top ten albums of the year. Califone does with this album, what they do best, which is write immaculate songs with perfect interludes and lyrics that at times seem in audible, but you know if it were any different the song wouldn’t be the same – such as “Bunuel.” Most will be quick to dub this another folk album, but I have never felt comfortable with giving Califone such a broad tag as ‘folk.’ It’s not a folk album, they’ve never made a real folk album. Just because it doesn’t fit any other label and tends to be a quieter album does not make this a folk album.
All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is a beautifully haunting album that transcends labels and genres. There are times when it screams at you and there are times it’s actually pretty (“Funeral Singers”) and there are times when it exists only under the layers of breath.
I highly recommend picking up All My Friends Are Funeral Singers.
Check out Califone here
