Calder's story is an interesting one. As a teenager, she learned that Carl Newman (New Pornographers, Zumpano, Superconductor, A.C. Newman) was her long-lost uncle. Yeah, apparently Calder's adopted mother had just discovered that she and the indie pop legend shared a mother. Fast forward several years to when Calder was asked to fill in for Neko Case, who at the time was focusing more heavily on her own solo career. Nepotism, anyone? Anyway, the experiment worked. Calder soon left her other band, Immaculate Machine, and joined the New Pornos full-time, recording the most recent three albums with the group.
Starting a solo career is contagious though, at least for the members of the New Pornographers. In addition to Neko Case, Carl Newman has released two albums as a solo artist and Daniel Bejar (Destroyer) has a sizable catalog of music that rivals that of Bob Dylan or Billy Joel (You pick). Maybe it was the peer pressure, but Kathryn Calder decided a year ago to record several tracks that she had written on her own. The resulting debut received mixed reviews, though I think it was a solid effort overall with several catchy tracks. It's mellow, it's twee, it's a little bit of everything 'indie' really. I'll let you guys decide.
Albums: Are You My Mother? (2010)
Tracks: Arrow, If You Only Knew, Slip Away, Day Long Past Its Prime
No comments:
Post a Comment