Who out there can resist the siren song of Kelsey Grammer? No man living can. Tim Rutili’s Califone has been up to a number of things since his band’s last album, 2009’s All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, including painting, writing scripts, and working on scores for films such as last year’s Beauty Is Embarrassing. He also just so happened to work on the score for the Starz series BOSS, starring a one Mr. Kelsey Grammer. This — in my mind and probably nowhere else — led to many late nights between the two, sharing wine and conversing about the foibles and misunderstands of the upper-middle class. When you’re in Grammer-land, it’s tough to return to the real world.
But return Rutili has and he’s brought Califone with him. On September 3, the band will release their new album Stitches through Dead Oceans. This album’s creation came after a year of absolutely no Califone activity, which ended when Rutili simply woke up one day and started writing Califone songs again. Listen to the record’s title track below; see if you can pick out the Frasier references, then sigh when you realize that there are no Frasier references.
If you’re a person of strange ideas, you might have noticed that the aforementioned title-track lacks “that Chicago sound.” Good reason for that: Stitches is the first record of Rutili’s in which none of it was recorded in Chicago. Instead, the band recorded with Griffin Rodriguez in Los Angeles, Michael Krassner in Phoenix, and Craig Ross in Austin. Also: Frasier Crane in Seattle.
Stitches tracklist:
01. Movie Music Kills a Kiss
02. Stitches
03. Frosted Tips
04. Magdalene
05. Bells Break Arms
06. moonbath.brainsalt.a.holy.fool
07. Moses
08. A Thin Skin of Bullfight Dust
09. We are a Payphone
10. turtle eggs/an optimist
Califone dates:
06.28.13 - Chicago, IL - Big Star’s Third @ The Vic Theatre
09.07.13 - Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Music Festival
09.08.13 - Richmond, VA - Capital Ale House
09.09.13 - Charlottesville, VA - The Southern
09.11.13 - Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theater
09.12.13 - Wilmington, DE - World Cafe Live at The Queen
09.14.13 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live Upstairs
09.15.13 - Brooklyn, NY - Littlefield
09.17.13 - New Haven, CT - Cafe nine
09.19.13 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
09.20.13 - Boston, MA - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Califone: http://www.califonemusic.com
• Dead Oceans: http://www.deadoceans.com