Charles Allison really started making records in 1997 on a cassette 4-track machine in a big old house he shared with his siblings. For those songs and for the many songs he would write and record in the years following, he adopted the Kil Howlie Day moniker (a reference to an unofficial schoolboy holiday in Hawaii, one of several places the Allison family was stationed during Charles youth). From the very start, the Kil Howlie Day songs were infectious. Something about the timbre of Charles voice made them both sad and fun at once. His guitar-playing style was diverse, swaying from the type of cranky snap I associate with early Liz Phair and Billy Bragg to the rounded pop of more-recent XTC. His lyrics were clever, his hooks were memorable, and his perfectionism was everywhere obvious.
Quickly, Charles began filling out the Kil Howlie Day sound by training himself on various instruments, experimenting with various electronic devices, and amassing an arsenal of home-recording knowledge and equipment. Charles also invited some other really talented guys to play on some material; most notably, Matt Turnure became the Kil Howlie Day drummer in 1999, touring with Charles and bassist Jeremy Carriger for One Finger Ad-Lib in the summer of 2000. The touring incarnation of Kil Howlie Day recorded Songs Like Circadian Rhythms that same year. This third Kil Howlie Day record was the densest, prettiest work Charles had yet produced. It is marked by a desert loneliness reminiscent of bands like Grandaddy and Giant Sand. The record has an insouciant country and western feel that would become even more pronounced on Braced in the Beams.
Charles decided to drop the Kil Howlie Day name from this most recent work in recognition of what has been a glacial shift in style and group lineup. In a sense, little has changed in the fundamental equation: Charles is still writing great songs and recording them himself. At the same time, he has covered a lot of territory as a musician and as a person since he first started bouncing tracks on his Tascam machine. Charles Allisons music is now what I think Gram Parsons was talking about when he used the term Cosmic American Music. It is sweet, true, and struggling always to grow into itself. It only makes sense that Charles should want to put his own name on these songs, like a guarantee. It is hard to say what to expect next from Charles. He is gifted enough to take things in any direction he likes. Still, there is a confidence on Braced in the Beams that suggests his future work will further explore the happy meeting of influences that make this record so strong. Raised two hours south of Nashville on new wave and punk rock, Charles Allison found his way, naturally enough, back to Tennessee sounds: pedal-steel swells and acoustic guitar picking.
Charles got warm on “Braced in the Beams,†and he started admitting how much he loved seventies singer-songwriters (especially David Gates). It came as little surprise, therefore, when that record drew numerous comparisons to Gates’s work with Bread. In the last few years, Charles has continued to pursue these smooth pleasures. Collaboration with Asheville, North Carolina’s Black-Eyed Dog resulted in “Some Queer Raincoat†(Recorded by Charles and Brian Landrum, mixed by Mitch Easter, and officially released in 2007). The material here swings between folk-pop idioms reminiscent of the Waterboys’ “Fisherman’s Blues†period and a slightly edgier 70s Californiana (Jackson Browne, perhaps, but Jackson Browne with the Descendents on his iPod). The new record, which so-far is untitled, seems to be letting some of the old Kil Howlie Day impulses see the light again. Synthesizers are back, for one thing, and the song-writing chops Charles has continued developing over the years sit comfortably together with the old blips, bells, and pops. Eclectic synthesis has, in fact, always been one of Charles’s special talents and a mainstay of his creative palette. In songs like “Esteem Problem,†“Garden Party,†and “Girls from State,†Charles begins turning his own catalogue back in on itself. This is not seventies-ism or post-punk revival. It’s pop music made out of life as it is really happening. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it’s what you’ve been waiting to hear.
Dr. Aaron McCollough
Friend & Biographer
Charles is now completely consumed with work on his new band Land Camera , but is also managing to work on new "Charles Allison" material in a more synth-oriented vein.
