Pitchfork Forkcast: New Music: Bill Callahan: "Sycamore" [MP3]

New Music: Bill Callahan: "Sycamore" [MP3]

Most every reference to "Sycamore", from Bill Callahan's forthcoming Woke on a Whaleheart, mentions that it's the closest he's come to making soul music. This might have something to do with Deani Pugh-Flemmings, an Olivet Baptist choir member who lends her voice to the song's second verse and all the subsequent, brilliant choruses. Specifically, the Staple Singers are this song's spiritual touchstone. First, Pete Denton's tiny, tinny guitar tone bends steady notes up towards some ecclesiastical unknown at the top of the straight sycamore tree, just like ol' Pops did alongside his daughters back on those early bellwethers. And, appropriately, the Staples caught flack for being too secular, while here, Callahan makes a few heavyweight Biblical references (remember Zacchaeus wanting to see everything?) while sounding like a man who's finally discovering love and happiness in the simplest of places. "There's sap in the trees if you tap 'em," he sings by way of introduction. Sure, and there are a lot of great songs left in Callahan.

MP3: > Bill Callahan: "Sycamore"
[from Woke on a Whaleheart; due 04/24/07 on Drag City]