Kirin J Callinan’s Return to Center: How to “Let It Be”

Kirin J. Callinan

Kirin J. Callinan is an Australian singer-songwriter. The genre of his music is wide ranging, including pop, electronic, experimental hard rock, dance-country, and many more types in between. Callinan is a musical chameleon who often completely switches genres from album to album –or from song to song within an album– and has been a figure in the Australian music scene for almost a decade. Like many musicians, Callinan focuses his projects with specific ideas or concepts. However, unlike those other musicians, Callinan can take this focus to an usually extreme level.

Such is the case for Callinan’s 2019 album, Return to Center. The album is a cover album where Callinan recreates tracks from other artists that are some of his most beloved. The name of the album reflects the challenge which Callinan gave himself when he made it. He would rent all of the equipment he needed to record the music and lyrics for the album from Guitar Center, complete the album entirely, and then return the equipment –all within Guitar Center’s fourteen day purchase return and refund window. Callinan did just that, the album was completed within the two week window and he effectively spent no money to do it. 

Though initially the idea of a cover album sounds inherently less creative than creating original music, Callinan’s use of the Guitar Center constraint showcases his creativity. The covers themselves are wildly different from the original versions and are infused with Callinan’s personality and musical flair.

Callinan’s journey in creating Return to Center exemplifies Rick Rubin’s support for knowing when to allow a creative work to be finished and to do no more work on it. In the chapter “Let It Be” in his book The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rubin argues that –in certain circumstances– it is appropriate for an artist to use the first version, or a very early version, of their work as the final version, because it “may hold extraordinary magic” (Rubin 223). Since Callinan gave himself such a short time to complete the album, he had to exercise his creative judgment when deciding whether or not a song was finished. According to Callinan himself, he ended up working on “‘a song a day in order to get [the album] done’” (Moen). 

Sources:

https://www.papermag.com/kirin-j-callinan#rebelltitem4

https://open.spotify.com/album/353mCwcd4qjAKPxg9YQIYz

https://genius.com/albums/Kirin-j-callinan/Return-to-center

Images:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thefader.com%2F2017%2F06%2F06%2Fkirin-j-callinan-bravado-interview-living-each-day-musicivideo&psig=AOvVaw3foHin6k6Hrl84srctxfW0&ust=1743808244122000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBQQjRxqFwoTCLDp0az-vIwDFQAAAAAdAAAAABA1