At the end of his time in Chicago, in 1999, Brian Calvin recorded a batch of new songs with poet Devin Johnston. Designed to be an album, mostly recorded and mixed by Jim O'Rourke, who also plays bass and contributes background vocals on some cuts, they were never released, languishing in the vaults for almost two decades. Calvin and Johnston had both been members of USA, the band that recorded an LP and an EP for Drag City in the two years before this music was recorded. On the occasion of The Meditations (2016), Calvin's retrospective survey of the Chicago years, he and Johnston returned to the music and selected the keepers for a wonderful five-song CD EP titled Some Hours. Sparse and beautifully arranged, funny and poignant, they recall a time when people were debating the Windy City's role in "post-rock" and folk-infused singing, and songwriting was melding with all sorts of other musical input, from Vandermark to Van Dyke Parks.
credits
released February 29, 2024
Noon: Brian Calvin on guitar and vocals; Devin Johnston on guitar and
backing vocals; Rich Germer on drums; Jim O’Rourke on backing vocals.
March And April: Calvin on guitar and vocals; Johnston on electric
piano and backing vocals; O’Rourke on bass.
All We Know So far: Johnston on guitar and vocals; Calvin on slide
guitar; Germer on electronics and drums.
Three Walls: Calvin on guitar and vocals; Johnston on guitar and electric organ; O’Rourke on bass.
Goodbye:
Calvin on guitar and vocals; Johnston on electric piano and bass;
Germer on drums.
Tracks 1-4 were recorded and mixed by Jim O’Rourke in Chicago, March
1999; track 5 was recorded and mixed by Paul Oldham in Shelbyville, Kentucky, July 1999.
All tracks were mastered by Konrad Strauss.
Drawing by Brian Calvin, design by Quemadura.
