!
"....A strikingly distinguished performer, Callinan traipses the stage like an amphetamine addled outlaw, wrenching venomous sandpaper fuzz from his guitar. With wrist pressed firmly to whammy bar, Callinan conjured panoramic visons of deceased suburbs, overgrown vacant lots and asphalt playgrounds. That peculiarly Australian, menacing sense of eternal space was perfectly rendered in his songs, and it’s these nigh mystical figures that keep the scene alive... Callinan is stunningly accomplished, potentially important. When he finally loops a guitar riff and proceeds to accompany it on a drum kit, he’s won over everyone in the audience. And you know, as good as Mercy Arms may be, Callinan ought to be winning hearts and minds by himself, because he is stunning and original."
- Shaun Prescott, 28th of January, 2009.
"Probably better known as a member of Sydney indie-too-cool-for-school bands Mercy Arms, (now defunct apparently) and Fashion Launches Rocket Launches, Kirin J. Callinan was the second and, to my mind, the standout act. There are those who, with their half-baked, contrived performances, fuel the popular misconception that “performance art” is the sport of lazy buggers and intellectual wankers - Callinan is not one them. His stunning musicianship is undeniable, his voice gnawing, soaring and poignant; he embodies some fantastical character as he two steps across the stage one moment and throws himself on his guitar with a violent spasm of noise the next. Perhaps what is most remarkable about Callinan as a performer is that he takes the odd, the utterly bizarre, and presents it with such ease and assuredness that one cannot help but find it all quite normal. A mystical, winged being singing of a teenage joyride; howling, writhing, attacking, and then breaking for some humorous banter with the audience; at once astonishing, delightful, accomplished and original."
- Rebekah Barnett, 19th of May, 2009.
“....I walked into the Oxford Art Factory with a sense of purpose - to write a review that could be published of a Callinan gig - and a sense of history. It was a long wait until Kirin took the stage (or rather corner of the room). It was worth it and that was evident from the opening chords. He opened with the stunning Mines… It’s highly original and easily Callinan’s best song. He followed this with the terrific Terrorists Today, which is as oddball as Callinan gets. The song has developed much, unlike Meoxwha, which had improved ten fold - it had become something else entirely, a greater evocation of a lack of meaning behind the "language" that Callinan uses - wailing and howling at a non-existent moon.”
- Sam Twyford-Moore, 26th of March, 2008.
|
