Kirin J Callinan Has No Commercial Ambitions For Debut LP

It's impossible to discuss Kirin J Callinan without discussing his reputation. There have been increasing reports of his activities over the past handful of years that have given the guitarist a perhaps unflattering public profile within his industry. There's been the reports of him performing in a lace nightie. There's been the reports of his and Kris Moyes' attempts to induce a seizure as part of their combined set at the Sugar Mountain festival.

In short; he's known as a provocateur. An artist who invites controversy. A reputation not exactly dispelled by the fact that Callinan hasn't actually released much music under his own name. To date, there's been 2010's She EP and 2012's W II W single. An argument exists that it's impossible to discuss Kirin J Callinan without discussing his reputation because there's little else to discuss.

This isn't strictly true. Callinan may not have released much music under his own name – but he's already something of a veteran of his community. Beginning his career with respected Sydney outfits Lost Valentinos and Mercy Arms, Callinan has also played with Jack Ladder and Lost Animal. In that time, he's toured, released albums and supported seminal groups like the Pixies. There's significantly more to his career than his mythology.

“Yeah, that is strange. It's certainly not anything I've ever tried to actively pursue or proliferate,” the guitarist says of his public profile. “I mean, it's flattering. That anyone would even care, you know? That anyone would be interested in writing articles or writing reviews or what have you. I mean, the Australian music industry is pretty insular. I think to have anyone think you're doing something unique is a good thing.”

Nevertheless, Embracism would seem to have a lot riding on it. Released this week, Callinan's debut album arrives after literally years of myth-making and hyperbole. Written over two years, produced by Kim Moyes of The Presets and released internationally on Grizzly Bear Chris Taylor's Terrible Records (and Midnight Juggernauts' Siberia Records locally), it can't help but feel like a make-or-break for Callinan's reputation.

“Well, it'd be nice for it to be successful. It wasn't really part of the intention, though,” he disagrees, untroubled. “There's never been any great expectations or even ambitions for the album, commercially speaking. I just wanted to get ten or X amount of songs that have built up over the years out, off my chest and done as well as they could be. The main intention was to capture these songs the best they could be captured.

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