DETAILS
TRACKS
Side A
- the habsburg jaw
- eyelash
- mcmansions
- villagers
Side B
- comedy
- ox-eye
- halloween
- skunkish
- sweetly
RELEASE DATE
5/19/2023
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"Rutili and a returning cast of longtime Califone collaborators have tapped a newfound efficiency within their shared love of the strange, channeling it into some of the band’s most fetching songs ever.” - 8.1 - PITCHFORK
"villagers is unmistakably a work of Rutili’s own making, rife with the earthy Americana and hypnotic sonic experimentation that set them apart from the beginning.” - TREBLE
"villagers’s nine tracks span across a wide thematic landscape like a good short story collection” - FLOOD
"A reminder that Tim Rutili is up there with Kurt Wagner and Cass McCombs when it comes to pognant, deconstructed Americana." - UNCUT
"Given how long Califone have been going, it’s heartening to hear them continuing to evolve, while maintaining the qualities that make them unique.” - DUSTED
Part experimental indie and part ‘70s soft rock, Califone’s first record in three years finds creative force Tim Rutili reaching new levels of harmony, fragility, and confidence. With recording sessions in four different cities and a cadre of hyper-talented collaborators (here including longtime cohorts Ben Massarella, Michael Krassner, Rachel Blumberg, Max Knouse and Brian Deck, as well as the likes of Nora O'Connor and Finom's Macie Stewart) villagers' nine compositions stretch out just as far, incorporating elements of classic radio pop and electronic experimentation into the mix.
Whether detailing aging goths retaining their identity through year-long spooky decorations (“Halloween”), an imagined conversation with an inbred monarch (“Habsburg Jaw”), or the conflicts between identity and technology (“Ox-Eye”), Villagers’ nine tracks spread out and luxuriates in the messy darkness of modern life. Like sitting in awe on the porch swing at the end of the world, Califone’s latest marvels at the edge of the universe spreading into the darkness of infinity.