May 13th, 2015 12:51pm
See How I Still Survive
Kathryn Calder “Take A Little Time”
I sometimes wonder what it’d be like if The New Pornographers made an album in which Neko Case and Kathryn Calder contributed songs along with Carl Newman and Dan Bejar. It’s a bit hard to imagine with Neko – her solo aesthetic is a lot earthier and more depressive than New Pornos, and I’m not sure if her inclinations as a songwriter are well suited to maximalism in arrangement. Calder’s solo music also tends to be a lot more melancholy and intimate, but I think she could do it. “Take A Little Time” wouldn’t need to change much to fit in on a New Pornos record, though I think it’s probably better off in this more ethereal form. I like the way she balances the urgency of the tempo with a hazy psychedelic arrangement and a chilly vocal timbre that feels like being lost in thought in some busy, hectic environment. Calder thrives when she can convey delicacy and interiority – this as true in the New Pornographers, where she can signal fragility in a way the three other vocalists cannot, and even more so when she’s on her own and that introverted character is at the center of the music.
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