Everything
At 38, Kirin J Callinan is still the enfant terrible that he was during the second half of the 2010s. A confected scandal at the ARIAS, a viral hit with Jimmy Barnes Only now, it’s perhaps a little more tempered with a touch more introspective energy. It’s a curious paradox–provocateur poet–but it is that same paradox that lay at the heart of Callinan’s latest album, If I Could Sing.
Tinged with both the fantastical and the painfully real, If I Could Sing is arguably Callinan’s most personal album, both in content and its delivery, delving into a realm of surprisingly emotional honesty. It’s a collection that oscillates between euphoric crescendos and introspective lulls, a reflection of an artist grappling with the complexities of life and art.
Part of this pivot in Callinan’s journey was a ketamine-induced hallucination before a London gig in 2018, an experience that subtly yet indelibly shifted his life’s trajectory. If I Could Sing emerges from this backdrop as an album that wrestles with the spectres of heartbreak and transformation. It’s a work that doesn’t just aim to entertain but also to introspect, revealing a side of Callinan previously overshadowed by his flamboyant persona.
The album is a tapestry of contrasts, from the operatic flair that harks back to the vocal grandeur of 80s icons like Tony Hadley to the contemplative nuances reflecting Callinan’s newfound maturity. In ‘Crazier Idea’, Callinan leans into his own raw vocality before hitting you with the wit of tracks like ‘Young Drunk Driver’ with its playful poke at Australian suburban masculinity.
Read our interview with Callinan about his latest album, how his music has grown and where he feels he’s headed next below.
ICON: Can you just describe the creative process that led to the creation of If I Could Sing?
Kirin J Callinan: It was all over the place! This one, in terms of its conception and genesis in a way, is a collection of songs that happened over multiple years in many different ways, and it really goes all the way back to being a teenager. There’s a handful of ideas on the record that I was noodling away on a guitar in my bedroom as a teenager that have appeared on the album and took that long to gestate.
ICON: The album’s inception took place in various cities, countries even. How did that effect the final work?
KJC: So many songs I’ve written and remains to be seen what happens to them or half written or these songs might not have come together in the way they have had it not been for being stranded in New Zealand. You might have, I can’t remember what I wrote in that track by track thing. And frankly, I think part of the reason, well not, I think definitely part of the reason it’s been so long is even this album itself, for the most part had it finished in early 2022. So it’s also sat sort of in waiting for a while. But in New Zealand, in 2021, I went there for a two week holiday when the bubble was opened between Australia and New Zealand and got stuck there for eight months as the bubble closed behind me.
And it was a largely very difficult eight months thing stranded from friends and family having been broken up with, whilst in New Zealand. The whole reason I’ve gone there was to meet the family of the person I loved. And then to find myself now having to build a life for myself over there in the midst of a very dramatic breakup was completely reflected in the environment I was in.
ICON: ‘Anaemic Adonis’ is a about on a personal near death experience. How did this event, which is pretty momentous, influence your work and this track in particular?
KJC: It’s not so much how it’s influenced my work. I mean, with this song is one of the literal things I’m singing about, the imagery of this near death experience. This out of body or inner body experience that I had was really visceral and full on. And that’s stuck with me. I can see it clear as day still, and so I had to write about it, but it’s not so much as how that experience influenced my work since how it’s influenced everything. I feel like my life purpose changed actually after having a near death experience. And not by any choice, not like I need to clean up my act and appreciate life and what a gift, nothing like this. I’m still reckless. And I’m still stupid.
ICON: ‘Young Drunk Driver’ has been described as pure pop bliss built on this suburban theme but it also comes across as something of a PSA for a topic that is perhaps a little too close to home for Australians. Was that the intent?
KJC: You know what, someone has made this point before that it’s like an anti drink driving commercial or something. But hit the nail on the head in terms of the suburban thing. I think that’s, to be completely honest, the lyric was just the thing I sung when I had this little guitar part and had to put something on it.
It’s clearly sprung to mind from somewhere though. And that somewhere I think is me talking about high school. I remember kids having that hotted up Honda Civic, or you’re smoking bongs in someone’s car that suburban every everyday banal in those three words, young drunk drivers seem to give me that same suburban and somehow Australian.
ICON: My favourite song on the whole album, which is ‘Crazier Idea’. It has that rich melodic vocals that reminded me of Anthony Hadley from Spandeau Ballet. But in your notes, you talk about Prince in his New Power Generation era and Bowie. What was the story behind this track?
KJC: It was written and produced with a friend of mine, Max Baby, in Paris. The album was finished before this song was even conceived but it came together really quickly. I felt like this was the most me song that I’ve ever done, but it was probably just me being excitable because it was this new thing. I dunno if that’s necessarily true, but I guess what I mean by that is I often make things that I don’t really like or make things using sounds or tropes or genres or whatever, that is not what I would like to listen to. Whereas this felt like the things that I love, whether it was Prince or Bowie.
ICON: You’ve had a reputation as being something of a provocateur and a rather unique stage presence. How do these aspects of your personality translate into songwriting?
KJC: I think the provocateur thing, and even any live show, really just comes from wanting it to be fun, wanting music to be fun, performance, to be fun and not too rehearsed and considered, but spontaneous and real and a bit funny too. And that’s me being a bit of a clown, and it would be cheeky and all of those things in my personal life. So it’d be disingenuous if that didn’t bleed into the music at all. And I feel like through just letting that be, that garnered some of this reputation. But it’s never been particularly attached. I don’t think it’s ever really been about, Hey, look at me. Maybe to a certain extent, but that’s never been my main intention. I don’t think, Hey, look at me. Great. It’s really just about sharing.
