Catalog Number: PPM099LP
Color: Black
Format: LP
UPC: 795853951639
Think Differently is the debut LP by the duo of Callahan and Witscher. Jeff
Witscher has been one of the most daring voices in underground American
music for two decades, highlighted by releases on Pan and NNA Tapes. Jack
Callahan's focused, uncompromising approach to sound caught the attention of
both Demdike Stare's DDS label and Swiss composer Jurg Frey, who took
Callahan on as his first composition student. Fans of their individual work might
expect opacity, disruption, or rhythmic irregularity from their collaboration, but Think Differently sounds like a pitbull in a convertible, a sand-kicking beach
party, the dopamine hit you get from 311 or Smash Mouth. It's a punchy,
crunchy, highly infectious record. How did Callahan and Witscher cut the path
from the ghostly margins of avant garde musics to the gutters of post-grunge
American hard rock? In the words of Callahan, "at some point, you start to need
a stronger drug."
The most potent characteristic of this stronger drug is the guitar. And not just
any guitar, but a sassy, contagious, blithe guitar. Its presence is a drastic shift
for two guys who've combined to make dozens of records over the years, not a
single one of which has a recognizable guitar sound on it. Alongside the cool
breezes and hyperactive fretwork of Callahan's guitar playing, the songs are
backboned by strutting, groove-happy vocals: all bark, all bite. Every song is a
careful collage, light but dense, ornate with gang choruses, soulful femme
vocals, autotune and whisper scratches. This accumulation almost manages to
hide the record's potent undertow of dread.
Think Differently unfolds carefully, a slow-motion demolition that reveals the
anxiety of second guessing, the exhaustion of tour, creative bankruptcy, willful
misunderstanding, the pain of caring. Setting this lyrical cynicism against such
sonic glee isn't a spoonful of sugar, it isn't a bait-and-switch, it isn't a prank.
After all, the dumb bliss of Sugar Ray's "Fly" shades a song about Mark
McGrath's mom dying. "All Star" is about climate change. Most Sublime lyrics
are a bummer. But there's still room for a raised beer, for a dumb grin. Like
these ancestors, Callahan and Witscher aim at maximum uplift, at sounds that
warm and dazzle like a sped-up sunrise. In spite of overdraft fees, in spite of
bad art, in spite of self-doubt.