2023 repress, originally released in 1997. The sixth Smog album, and the first one produced by Jim O’Rourke. Tracks include the single “Ex-Con” and “I Was A Stranger,” later covered by Cat Power. “Like Wild Love and Knock Knock, Red Apple Falls represents the more elaborate side of Bill Callahan’s discography. His outsider/loser image is still perfectly intact, but it is shaped here with a more expansive sonic palette. Everything from French horn and pedal steel to hurdy gurdy is employed on these unassumingly poetic tales of self-loathing. There’s a larger cast than usual at work here, and the denser musical texture may be the reason Callahan’s lyrical self-deprecation seems more like an artistic device than a desperate cry in the wilderness. The use of more natural, organic imagery in the songs, however, adds an extra level of depth to the subtle, carefully constructed.”