As the two would have it, Beattie's arrangements (sweeping strings that rise within the songs like the sun among the hills) smartly avoid the "comical extremes" of schmaltz and bombast that often join "fancy-dancy arrangements." Perhaps one of the most endearing aspects of Sometimes is that its restraint never comes off like withholding; you value what you're given more than you long for what you might expect. Even in its glimmering simplicity, the album feels like the profound accomplishment that 20 years of practice should bring — yet it's almost as if Callahan couldn't help but be deep.
BILL CALLAHAN + LIGHTS | Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge | June 15 at 9 pm | $20 | 617.876.4275 orwww.worldmusic.org
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