Unvanquished

There is something eerie and prescient in the release of City Burials, Katatonia's first full-length in four years. Appearing during the COVID-19 global pandemic, the complex emotions at the heart of these songs reflect loss, grief, fear, and tension back at humanity itself. Over three decades, Katatonia's name has become synonymous with a melancholic alt-prog defined by a gloomy, atmospheric, melodic, dark, dreamy musical aesthetic. City Burials (even its title is serendipitous) was largely composed by frontman Jonas Renkse during their 2018 hiatus as a solo album, but he changed his mind and wanted the band involved.

In retrospect, the approach Terry Callier takes on Hidden Conversations seems like something of an inevitability. Callier was one of the earliest singer/songwriters under the folk umbrella to expand the music's possibilities by mixing it with soul and jazz, well in advance of Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin, or even Fred Neil. Callier cut a few '70s cult classics, but by the '80s he was retired from active music. In the '90s, Callier became a cause célèbre on the British acid-jazz scene, and was coaxed out of retirement. His reactivation has proven permanent, and Hidden Conversations is Callier's fifth new studio album since his 1998 comeback, Timepeace. It's also the first to truly assimilate the sensibilities of the musical community that facilitated his return to duty.