Calla and the Celebration Empty Bottle 10/30
I am right now, at this very moment, sitting on my front porch in full cat costume(I’ve been the same thing since I was six), editing pictures, blogging in the dark, and intermittently feeding trick or treaters some sweet chocolate and if that isn’t multi-tasking, I don’t know what is.
THE CELEBRATION :
The Celebration are a three piece group, recently signed to the 4AD label whose sound consists mainly of drums, vocals, and organ. I can see fans of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and the Fiery Furnaces liking this group. They also remind me a bit of a local Chicago band that I really like, Pit er Pat that has some catchy yet almost jarring rhythms with an eccentric sound that at first listen might strike one as difficult but with time becomes almost like a sound craving.
Make no mistake about this one-lead female singer Katrina Ford, is a show-woman (is that even correct grammar? Cut me some slack people, I’m trying to type in the dark here) She came out in a slinky black top and pants and at times was taken over by theatrics. During the set, she jumped down from the stage and became one with the audience a few times. It was a real treat because she was so into what she was doing and the songs were very tight, as tight as they sound on album. The performance aspect made it doubly interesting, though.
CALLA:
This was either our third or fourth time seeing Calla, another three piece, which unlike the Celebration compose songs with both guitar and bass as a crucial instrumental element. It had been a long time that had elapsed since we had seen them last. In fact, the last time we had gone to see them, we were expecting them to play mainly songs off of Televise and were a bit surprised when it was all new material. After their set they explained those songs belonged on a new album which they hadn’t recorded or released yet and Cinchel and I were feeling a bit upset that we couldn’t have those songs to listen to again right then.
Well, the wait is over and Calla has released a much different album than Televise entitled Collisions. It still has a very dark sort of feel to it but at the same time, some of the songs almost have a Dandy Warhols sound to them. They are literally catchy instead of just simply intense. Some people might think I’m a bit nuts for saying this but I sense a real Joe Pernice type of feel to some of Aurelio Valle’s lyrics…sugary sweet with just that more than slight hint of tragedy.
In all honesty, Calla should have had more of an audience, even being that is was a Sunday night. Collisions is a really stellar album that I find myself listening to again and again and it improves with each new listen. But don’t expect banter or theatricals as with the case of Celebration. They played almost completely in the dark at times and without talking. The set was tight, though, with an encore performance that included Brian Eno’s Needles in the Camel’s Eye.