Its been a successful year so far for Australian singer songwriter Kirin J Callinan, after opening for both TV on the Radio and Tame Impala, dueling guitars with Mark Ronson & Kevin Parker as well as taking a park in the International production of “In Dreams – The Music of David Lynch”. He’s back with new solo material in the shape of a single, The Teacher, which features his long time friend and tour partner Connan Mockasin on vocals, and Callinan’s stellar backing band which includes John Kirby (Norah Jones, Sebastien Tellier, Cyprus Hill), Dave Jenkins Jr. (Daniel Johns, The Voice) & Tex Crick (The Pinheads).
The Teacher flits amongst musical phrases and skits at the beginning, before setling into this slow moving, lush prelude. It’s not long though before it bursts into life, the strings and piano laying down a carpet over which this swaying double bass and rattling percussion add to. Its Callinan’s vocal though that sparkles, revealing his taught tales and lessons learnt, as both the piano and winds mark the changes. It winds up into a soulful frenzy, with these female backing vocals draped over everything.
Check it out, here
