Sewn to the Sky
| Sewn to the Sky | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1990 (LP on Disaster Records) November 17, 1995 (CD on Drag City) January 30, 1996 (LP on Drag City) 2001 (CD on Drag City) | |||
| Genre | Experimental music | |||
| Length | 37:58 | |||
| Labels | Disaster, Drag City[1] | |||
| Smog chronology | ||||
| ||||
Sewn to the Sky is an album by Smog, released in 1990 by Disaster Records.[2] Most sources consider it to be Smog's first album, made after the release of several cassette-only recordings.[3] It was re-released by Drag City in 1995.[4] The experimental album combined home recording, substandard instruments and repetitive and noisy songwriting structures, and was an early example of the lo-fi genre.
The track "A Jar of Sand" was re-recorded for the 'Neath the Puke Tree EP in 2000.
Production
The album was recorded in Georgia and Maryland.[5] The liner notes say that it was recorded on a "dumpster Portastudio". Spin wrote that the recording "found [Callahan] relishing the process, with little regard for form or the guitar he was still learning to really play".[6]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [8] |
| Pitchfork | 8.0/10[9] |
| (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
Trouser Press wrote, "Suffused with the vague gray atmospherics suggested by the band’s name, Sewn to the Sky is primitive and promising."[1] The New Yorker wrote that the album is a "discordant, inscrutable, and periodically frustrating collection of mostly instrumental, low-fidelity noise, and contains few hints of the lucid and tender folk music that he would be making almost thirty years later".[11]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Bill Callahan.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Souped Up II" | 1:23 |
| 2. | "Kings Tongue" | 3:01 |
| 3. | "Garb" | 1:45 |
| 4. | "Hollow Out Cakes" | 2:14 |
| 5. | "Confederate Bills and Pinball Slugs" | 1:39 |
| 6. | "Coconut Cataract" | 1:14 |
| 7. | "Fruit Bats" | 1:14 |
| 8. | "Peach Pit" | 1:23 |
| 9. | "Disgust" | 0:49 |
| 10. | "Russian Winter" | 3:17 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Polio Shimmy" | 1:55 |
| 2. | "Smog" | 1:33 |
| 3. | "Lost My Key" | 4:00 |
| 4. | "Fried Piper" | 1:05 |
| 5. | "Fables" | 1:38 |
| 6. | "Puritan Work Ethic" | 2:21 |
| 7. | "A Jar of Sand" | 2:37 |
| 8. | "I Want to Tell You About a Man" | 1:01 |
| 9. | "Olive Drab Spectre" | 1:36 |
| 10. | "The Weightlifter" | 1:59 |
References
- 1 2 "Smog". Trouser Press. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
- ↑ "Smog Biography & History". AllMusic.
- Hughes, Rob (July 8, 2019). "Bill Callahan". Record Collector. - ↑ Mejía, Paula (January 2020). "For Singer Bill Callahan, Home Is Where the Art Is". Texas Monthly.
- Buckley, Peter (January 17, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843531050. - ↑ "Smog - Sewn to the Sky". Drag City.
- ↑ "Bill Callahan Album by Album". Uncut. March 8, 2013.
- ↑ Bevan, David (September 17, 2013). "Bill Callahan Rolls on Like a River". Spin.
- ↑ Sewn to the Sky at AllMusic
- ↑ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 7. MUZE. p. 571.
- ↑ LeMay, Matt (April 1, 2001). "Smog - Sewn to the Sky". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2006.
- ↑ (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. 2004. p. 754.
- ↑ Petrusich, Amanda (June 10, 2019). "Bill Callahan Makes Good Use of Quiet". The New Yorker.