Calla, Televise

By Jerome Mazandarani

Televise is the fourth album from New York City’s Calla–ten achingly beautiful songs dealing with the arrows and misfortunes of life in the Big Apple. It would be fair to say that Calla are currently relatively unknown, but this album will surely change that.

Like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Calla represent an ever growing new wave of American Anglophiles. Listening to Televise, one cannot help but think of such classic uk bands as My Bloody Valentine, House of Love and The Jesus and Mary Chain. The album shows the sound of a band in love with backward guitar loops, melodic distortion, shimmering chords and Peter Hook style bass-lines. Minimalist percussion and programming underlay many of the tracks, underscoring the plaintive lyrics of "Don’t Hold Your Breath."

Televise is most definitely trench-coat rock; "As Quick as It Comes/Carrera" features subtly programmed drums that splash rhythmically throughout, like tiny captured rain drops. Calla obviously draws inspiration from feelings of sadness and perhaps even isolation. Like all the best miserablists (e.g. The Smiths) they enjoy wallowing in their own melancholy. Thankfully, for the listener, we are rewarded for this suffering with such aural gems as "Monument" and "Astral"–blissed-out Velvets-inspired psych-rock.

Something dark and beautiful dwells beneath the city streets. We can thank Calla for mining the soul of one of the world’s most beautiful and tragic places and bringing it to the comfort of our living rooms. Expect to hear many more platitudes for Televise, one of the year’s most impressive releases so far.