Califone Announce Heron King Blues Deluxe Reissue Out December 8th via Dead Oceans, Share “Electric Fence (Clava Live Version)”

On December 8th, seminal experimental rock band Califone will release a deluxe reissue of Heron King Blues after years of being unavailable on LP. Inspired by Califone founder Tim Rutili’s strange, recurring dream of a bird-man creature, Heron King Blues was produced by Michael Krassner and originally released in 2004 as the band’s third album.

Primarily improvised in the studio, Heron King Blues started with a broken four string acoustic bass guitar that Rutili pulled out of the instrument room at Clava // Four Deuces Studio in Chicago. Ben Massarella cleansed the doorways, corners, and other dark spaces with burning sage, while Jim Becker, Joe Adamik, and Rutili began to quietly circle the live room in a clockwise motion, a slow incantation in E. Over the course of the afternoon, the participants slowly made their way to their instruments and 15 minutes after the initial note had been cast, Heron King Blues was born.

Writer Amanda Petrusich summed it up simply in her 2004 Pitchfork review of Heron King Blues: “Thus, the serendipity of Califone: the accidental orchestration, the mysterious creaks, the bits of poetry, the eerie omnipresence, the perfect, unnamable noise.”

The deluxe reissue of Heron King Blues is a double album on black vinyl, including previously unreleased live tracks and outtakes. A digital download code for the album (containing 320kbps MP3s) redeemable on release day.

The announcement comes ahead of two special Chicago shows for The Empty Bottle’s 25th Anniversary – a sold out performance on November 22nd and a just-announced second show on November 24th.

A split between Red Red Meat and Califone, these show will feature players from both bands (Tim Rutili, Ben Massarella, Brian Deck, Tim Hurley, Wally Boudway, and Ross Andrews), and a set list culling from both projects’ catalogues. A few new songs will be thrown into the performance, too.