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Bill Callahan Orbits the Earth in ‘Javelin Unlanding’ Video

Bill Callahan 'Javelin Unlanding' Video

Bill Callahan made one of the most gorgeous albums of 2013, and one of the finest of his admirable career, with Dream River. He also continued his relatively recent foray into music videos with “Small Plane” — SPIN was in the Smog singer’s Texas home during the making of that one — and now with a clip for “Javelin Unlanding.” The last visual was modeled after old silent films, and the latest channels another bygone example of the medium: Le Voyage dans la Lune. The Hanly Banks and Chris Rusch creation only nods subtly to that classic by placing Callahan’s face in the center of the moon, but the hand-crafted feel does the memory of Georges Méliès well too. Therein, Bill orbits Earth until catastrophe strikes, freeing the object of his affection (Banks’ face in a mountain range) from her terrestrial trappings so that she might then orbit him. It’s sweet in an end-of-the-world kind of way.