Last week Bill Callahan announced a new album called Gold Record, and promised to release a song from it on every Monday from now until its release on September 4. Well, he’s made good on his promise by today sharing opening track “Pigeons”.
Callahan opens “Pigeons” with a smirk: “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.” There are many ways to interpret this introduction, but as the song opens up into a gorgeous tale about a chauffeur driving a white limo at weddings, it’s tempting to imagine that The Man in Black is what he listens to as he ferries people around. He starts with an image of pigeons exploding over San Antonio from eating too much wedding rice, and from there continues to meet more newlyweds in this roving wonder. The whole time, Callahan is backed by the simplest and most delicate instrumentation, which absolutely shines – it’s no wonder the album is called Gold Record.
Listen to “Pigeons” via your favoured streaming platform or via the embed below.
Bill Callahan will be releasing a new song every Monday until Gold Record comes out on September 4, through Drag City. You can follow him on Twitter and Bandcamp.
