Califone is a band that defies this blueprint. Their albums are full of layers and textures, offering endless depth, entire universes to lose yourself in - and beyond the thick spectrum of sound, they do something even more important: They write great songs. Califone is a band that will stand the test of time.
The band is at the peak of its powers on All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, its sixth song based album. The long-awaited follow-up to 2006's acclaimed Roots and Crowns, the album is the strongest collection of songs in a career with no shortage of strength. The subtlety and detail of Califone's previous work is present here - the atmospheres are carefully nuanced, the percussion is both rattling and melodic, the melodies are rich and soulful, interspersed throughout softly strummed folk and electrified blues. All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is a dense collage of sounds, expertly formed into fully realized pop songs.
Roots and Crowns brought a newfound immediacy in Califone, most notably on their cover of Psychic TV's 'The Orchids.' They had never recorded a song that would function as an obvious single before this, and the results were spectacular. All My Friends Are Funeral Singers expands upon these explorations - the hook on 'Funeral Singers' is urgent and undeniable; the melody in 'Polish Girls' is pop perfection. 'Buuel' is as epic as it is catchy, while 'Evidence' and 'Krill' are both absolute studies in beauty.
This pop exploration runs through the album, but it's not at the expense of Califone's vast musical vocabulary. The band's multi- instrumentalists (Joe Adamik, Jim Becker, Ben Massarella, Tim Rutili) and several notable guests utilize an orchestra's worth of instruments on the album, from the more typical (guitar, bass, piano), to the unusual (optigan, prepared piano, stylophone). Throw in more strings (fiddle, mandolin, banjo, baritone ukulele, cello), percussion (mbira, marimba, steel drum, thumb piano), some horns (bass clarinet, clarinet, French horn) and a whole mess of other oddities (ring modulators, loops, 'effects,' synth bass, electronics) and the careful production and mixing of longtime collaborator Brian Deck, and you've got the perfect ingredients for Califone's finest and most ambitious album to date.
