Even at his most fevered, he remains such an engaging figure, that it's nearly impossible to look away from the scene of the crime, even as the blood begins pooling around the listeners' feet.
For all its sonic shifts and bracing unpredictability, Callinan isn't just experimenting for the sake of it: he has enough experience to know exactly what he's doing, and his debut solo effort is impressively confident.
Although at times Embracism feels like a meandering listen or musical stream of consciousness, Callinan’s songwriting skills have allowed him to find cohesion throughout its ten songs, a consistency that a less engaging personality certainly wouldn’t have struck upon.
Though the album demands an effort from its listener, it does add up to more than just the sum of its idiosyncrasies. Embracism sounds like little else out there-a rare thing to say about any piece of music.
It holds a mirror up to the human body and reveals something alternately beautiful, hairy, awkward, scarred and imperfect, but rarely less than fascinating.
Embracism is a record that’ll grab you and bring you close, but also one that won’t hesitate to push you away with a gut punch and expect you to take it like a man.
A mix of Trent Reznor and Patrick Wolf, he’s both an industrial piledriver and theatrical show-off, making this debut record disorientating, confusing and exciting.
The best Kirin J Callinan album... so far
So, I've never really been that crazy for Kirin's music. I've always found him to be annoying or just overexaggerated and his music to just not have much special to it. "Bravado" is one of those albums that I don't like, but that I appreciate, and I used to love "Return To Center" until I came back to it some months ago and the love was over. I thought I was done with him, but taking into account two of his most recent singles are ... read more
Kirin's major breakthrough in the underground is a harrowing, dark and twisted depiction of masculinity and insecurity, delivered with a mix of pounding industrial and no wave, as well as soul-crushing folk and sophisti-pop ballads. It's certainly a far cry from the same guy who gave us the screaming cowboy meme, but it's a more than worthy introduction to one of Australia's most unique (and polarising) musical talents
This is harrowing. But it's also pretty hilarious. There's a level of irony to the horror that Kirin tries to expose through themes of insecurity of intimacy, and it's interesting to see people comment, "spooky" or "scary" or "dramatic", when in reality this is every bit as hilarious as Bravado, just presented in a different way. Whereas that one was an Friends, this one is more It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and even its wild inconsistency in style throughout ... read more
#25 | / | Clash |
#50 | / | FasterLouder |