Track Reviews // Kirin J. Callinan - It Takes a Muscle to Fall in Love


Second single from ‘Journey to Center’ (Terrible Records, June 21st 2019)

With disarmingly melodramatic vocals and life-affirming pop, Australian Kirin J. Callinan mastered the delicate art of bad taste on 2017’s Bravado, easily one of the year’s best records. Little wonder then that Callinan’s latest singles are building to a covers album of all things. The accusations of indulgence and bone idleness that righteously plagued The Spaghetti Incident, the recent Teal Album and Urban Renewal – The Songs of Phil Collins are there for all to see. But this is Kirin J. Callinan; an apex musical predator.

After ripping Youtube a new art hole with his stunning video and performance for The Whole of the Moon, this second single is like a long, hot shower for Spectral Display's 80s-soaked minimalist krautrock opera (releasing new material in 2019 after 36 years out, kids).

With production from François Tétaz - whose treatment of acoustic instrumentation with Gotye flipped the world over for a minute – Kirin J. Callinan’s voice is treacle thick like Gene Pitney but with the flamboyant fragility of psych-pop contemporaries Connan Mockasin and Ariel Pink. The character and gravity of his delivery harmonises the gritty familiarity of the guitars and the ghostly synths into a fist of pure emotion.

As nice as it is to hear your artist’s favourite artists, especially when fleshed out so caringly by a talent like Callinan, it will be a shame to have to do without his unique turn of phrase - “serious in Syria, believe in us Bolivia we’re Ghana be big enough”. Still, the big man shows on this track that he’s got a symphonic pop arsenal and his dedication to reproducing these crystal synth power ballads is a sincere labour of love. I’m looking forward to it.

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