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Apr 24, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Yana Yatsuk Kirin J Callinan

Australian experimental musician Kirin J Callinan has announced a new covers album, Return to Center, and shared a new track from it, “It Takes a Muscle (To Fall In Love),” a cover of a 1982 song by Spectral Display. Return to Center is due out June 21 via Terrible Records. It includes “The Whole of the Moon,” which is a cover of a 1985 song by Scotland’s The Waterboys that Callinan shared a video for in March (it was one of our Songs of the Week, despite being a cover). The album also includes covers of mainly ‘80s songs by the likes of Momus, Opus, Randy Newman, Robert Wyatt, Billy Field, Ultravox, Public Image Ltd, and others. Listen to “It Takes a Muscle (To Fall In Love)” below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art (which spoofs the Guitar Center logo), as well as Callinan’s upcoming tour dates. Also below is “The Whole of the Moon” video again.

A press release describes the album this way: “On Return to Center, Callinan’s trademark flamboyance is cut with a newfound fragility that comes curled up in an attempt to do justice to the songs he holds nearest and dearest. Callinan, and the albums zeitgeist producer Francois Tetaz, rework both all-time favorites and last-minute spontaneous additions, songs that have shaped the artist he is today amongst songs that were jammed out of the blue in their Silverlake garage come studio, spilling onto the street with ideas, gear and talent.”

Callinan had this to say about the album in a press release: “In August 2018 I embarked upon my most ambitious solo album to date. I, along with producer Francois T, said label head honcho Ethan S., creative consorts and L’Angeleno shred pigs, set out to purchase the most spartan assembly of instruments and studio equipment deemed necessary. That night, day zero, in an east LA garage; Travis, my trusted engineer, and I would set it all and power it up. Boxes stacked n’ stocked away with price tags still intact, we began in earnest, honestly, on what would become an album worth of tunes that were and are even more so now some of the nearest and dearest songs to me. All within 14 days. All before our eventual eviction from that garage on 1024 Manzanita Street. All before our inescapable…Return to Center.”

Check out our 2017 interview with Kirin J Callinan on Bravado and the accompanying photo-shoot we did with him as he was getting a shave and a haircut at a Washington DC barbershop.

Return to Center Tracklist:

1. Life is Life
2. The Homosexual
3. Whole of the Moon
4. It Takes a Muscle (To Fall In Love)
5. Pretty Boy
6. Return to Center
7. Rise
8. Signed Curtain
9. You Weren’t In Love (With Me)
10. Vienna

Kirin J Callinan Tour Dates:

Wed. April 24 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Thu. April 25 - Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right
Thu. May 2 - Windsor, ON @ Meteor Bar
Fri. May 3 - Toronto, ON @ Monarch
Sat. May 4 - Montreal, QC @ The Ritz
Thu. May 9 - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
Fri. May 10 - Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
Sat. May 11 - Lexington, KY @ The Burl
Tue. May 14 - Minneapolis, MN @ Turf Club
Fri. May 17 - Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas
Sat. May 18 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
Tue. May 21 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
Wed. May 22 - Oakland, CA @ New Parish
Thu. May 23 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
Fri. May 24 - Seattle, WA @ Barboza
Sat. May 25 - Vancouver, BC @ Static Jupiter
Tue. July 2 - Gothenburg, SE @ Pusterviksbaren
Wed. July 3 - Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
Thu. July 4 - Stockholm, SE @ München Brewery
Fri. July 5 - Berlin, DE @ Urban Spree
Sat. July 6 - Amsterdam, NL @ De School
Sun. July 7 - Bristol, UK @ The Louisiana
Mon. July 8 - Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen
Tue. July 9 - London, UK @ Omeara
Thu. July 11 - Paris, FR @ Ephemere
Fri. July 12 - Normandie, FR @ Pete The Monkey Festival
Sun. July 14 - Dublin, IE @ Iveagh Gardens *
Thu. Aug. 8 - Adelaide, AU @ Lion Arts Factory
Fri. Aug. 9 - Melbourne, AU @ Croxton Bandroom
Sat. Aug. 10 - Fremantle, AU @ Freo Social
Fri. Aug. 16 - Brisbane, AU @ The Zoo
Sat. Aug. 17 - Sydney, AU @ Metro Theatre

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