If I Could Sing expands on Kirin J Callinan’s five-track Crazier Idea EP (2023), adding seven additional tracks, and is as delightfully preposterous as we’ve come to expect from this kooky, kilt-loving, boundary-pushing artist.
The EP’s title track is “very much Kirin’s most ‘Kirin’ song”, according to the presser, with the man himself humblebragging, “If there was truly any doubt whether I could indeed sing, as the album title suggests, it is surely dispelled here.”
Also, if you can think of a crazier idea than KJC naked and oiled-up with a Ken doll-esque prosthetic mound covering his modesty, wearing a latex fish mask and doing some chorey from MJ’s iconic Thriller video (see: Crazier Idea’s film clip!), I’m all ears.
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Hold up, is that harpsichord closing out the hilarious and cautionary Young Drunk Driver (“…in your blue Honda/ Civic” – LOL)? Callinan’s lyrics often have a spontaneous, freestyle quality to them. His electrifying guitar playing channels the late genius Rowland S Howard. Untitled 8, an experimental instrumental, features industrial fizzes and clunks plus metallic guitar squall. There are some tender detours as well: My Little One and the heartbroken …in Absolutes, which is built from a chord sequence Callinan first played in a mate’s attic when he was 19. Callinan is an enigma and a provocateur, and we’re here for it.
Did you know? Callinan played guitar on Mark Ronson’s Grammy-winning album Uptown Special (alongside David Bowie guitarist Carlos Alomar and Kevin Parker) and Genesis Owusu’s Smiling With No Teeth.
RELEASE DATE: 2 FEB
LABEL: WORSE RECORDS/[PIAS]
