This record must surely have one of the best opening lines:
'You spend half of the morning just trying to wake-up, Half the evening just trying to calm down'.
I have a set routine whenever I visit Brisbane City. I have a couple of favorite bookshops, coffee shops and record stores that I have to visit. Egg Records which was located upstairs on Queen Street was always a favourite, especially with my boys, because of the collection of rock'n'roll and movie memorabilia. We would spend hours looking at every item in the display cabinet from The Beatles figurines to Star Wars collectibles.
The store was filled with great music coming from multiple speakers; the music was always left of centre, familiar indie rock, but nothing I could put my finger on. On one of my visits, the boffin behind the counter explained that their sound system ran off a vinyl player and a valve amp, the sound was incredible, warm and inviting.
Fast forward 10 years to 2014 and the store had relocated to the cultural hub of the West End. I was just as impressed with the new store; very well laid out, filled with collectible goodies, an impressive range of band t-shirts and drenched in intriguing music. It was on this visit that I had the opportunity to have a quick chat with owner Ric Trevaskes about music. We had both recently seen the Brian Jonestown Massacre play at 'The Zoo' in the Valley, this was a springboard for discussing similar bands I may like. Ric pulled out a few albums, and played a couple of tracks from each of them, SUPPER by Smog being the stand-out.
Bill Callahan is an American singer-songwriter, and SUPPER is his eleventh album under the Smog moniker. His 1990's lo-fi bedroom recordings were experimental, noisy, repetitive and genre-defining. Subsequent albums became more collaborative with Callahan's smooth baritone voice juxtaposed with unpredictable layers of stuttering guitars, droning rhythms, banjo, rumbling percussion and ghostly female backing vocals.
SUPPER is an intriguing album which reveals more of itself with every listen. The lovely collection of songs have been carefully recorded and mastered at Abbey Road Studios. Callahan's poetic lyrics are deep, dark and profound, leaving us hungry for more.
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
"Feather By Feather"
"Vessel In Vain"
"A Guiding Light"
NOTE: In 2015 Ric Trevaskes closed Egg Records and joined forces with Rockinghorse Records downstairs on Albert Street in Brisbane city. I have been visiting this outstanding store ever since I was an art student in the early 1980's.