| Heron King Blues | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 2004 | |||
| Genre | Country rock, experimental rock | |||
| Label | Thrill Jockey | |||
| Califone chronology | ||||
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Heron King Blues is an album by the American band Califone, released in 2004. [1] [2] It is in part a concept album about singer Tim Rutili's recurring bird dreams and ornithophobia. [3] [4] The band supported the album with UK and North American tours. [5] [6]
Rutili was backed on most of the tracks by percussionists Ben Massarella and Joe Adamik and multi-instrumentalist Jim Becker. [7] [8] Califone recorded the album in an improvisational manner, choosing to not start the sessions with existing songs or rehearsed structures. [4] The band was inspired by Captain Beefheart's Mirror Man , which was allegedly recorded in a single night. [9] Their initial plan was to record an EP that would give them a reason to tour. [10] The foundations of the tracks were completed in three days in a studio on the south side of Chicago, with the band then adding lyrics and overdubs. [11] [12] They employed samples and looped beats on some of the tracks, and used steel guitar, bottles, and hand drums, among other instruments. [13] [14] The 15-minute title track, which was inspired by a Druid mythical character appropriated by the Romans, is mostly instrumental. [15] [10] "Trick Bird" was cowritten with members of the band Orso. [16] The making of the album was somewhat tense; after the band also had equipment stolen during their tour, they decided to take a break. [17]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [18] |
| Creative Loafing | A− [10] |
| The Gazette | [15] |
| The Herald | 3/5 [19] |
| Pitchfork | 8.4/10 [20] |
| Spin | B [21] |
The New York Times stated that the album "ambles through stereo-warped slide-guitar twangs and hall-of-mirrors funk as Tim Rutili contemplates apocalypse without raising his voice." [22] The Chicago Tribune praised the "electronic experimentation" and "richly atmospheric tone poems"; the paper later listed Heron King Blues as the best local indie album of 2004. [23] [24] The Herald said that the bandmembers "have a unique, fractured take on the blues and country-rock music of their country: this is psychedelic, bizarre, low-key lunacy." [19] The Times opined that "they seem to start out with complete chaos and somehow fashion a structure that mortal ears can comprehend (although the lyrics often still need some work)." [25]
The Observer concluded that "the rolling, often improvised sections recall at times the calmer passages of Captain Beefheart, but boast a spirit all their own." [26] The Toronto Star called the title track "a chugging, largely instrumental entry that sounds like a jam session involving Jeff Beck and an ensemble of new music gurus." [27] The Sydney Morning Herald noted that Califone "share a space with the likes of Tom Waits in sounding both banged-up and spacious at once, arriving at an uneasy but magnetic beauty the way they shape their sonic clutter." [28]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Wingbone" | |
| 2. | "Trick Bird" | |
| 3. | "Sawtooth Sung a Cheater's Song" | |
| 4. | "Apple" | |
| 5. | "Lion & Bee" | |
| 6. | "2 Sisters Drunk on Each Other" | |
| 7. | "Heron King Blues" | |
| 8. | "Outro" |