Smog: Bill Callahan (vocals, guitar, piano, Hammond B-3 organ, synthesizer). Additional personnel: Ken Champion (pedal steel guitar); Thymme Jones (trumpet, piano, drums); Donna Maroni (French horn); James O'Rourke (hurdy gurdy, piano, Hammond B-3 organ, bass, drums); Matt Weston, Robot (drums). Recorded from October 30 to November 3, 1996. Like WILD LOVE and KNOCK KNOCK, RED APPLE FALLS represents the more elaborate side of Bill Callahan's discography. His outsider/loser image is still perfectly intact, but it is shaped here with a more expansive sonic palette. Everything from French horn and pedal steel to hurdy gurdy is employed on these unassumingly poetic tales of self-loathing. There's a larger cast than usual at work here, and the denser musical texture may be the reason Callahan's lyrical self-deprecation seems more like an artistic device than a desperate cry in the wilderness. The use of more natural, organic imagery in the songs, however, adds an extra level of depth to the subtle, carefully constructed lyrics.

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