Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle

On his second album since retiring the project name Smog, singer-songwriter Bill Callahan delivers possibly his most direct, straightforward, and sonically accessible album. A song cycle that seems to reflect upon Callahan's breakup with fellow alt-folk star Joanna Newsom (especially the metaphor-rich "The Wind and the Dove"), SOMETIMES I WISH WE WERE AN EAGLE feels like the postmodern equivalent of one of James Taylor or Jackson Browne's intensely personal 1970s albums.