Calla
Scavengers
[Young God]
Rating: 8.3
Calla's 1999 self-titled debut was the type of record that's typically filed
under "avant" in loftier music stores. Not quite rock, not quite post-rock,
it was a fuzz-caked affair described by luminaries like Alternative Press
as, "Quiet tension without release and music without boundaries." Truth be
told, with its vocals mixed super-low, screeching guitars, and nearly formless
songwriting, Calla was inaccessible and came off as almost absurdly
pretentious.
The group's second LP, then, is a sweetly stinging smack in the face. From
the start, with the stellar "Fear of Fireflies," it's clear that the
Brooklyn-by-way-of-Texas trio is shedding more skin than the snakes they grew
up around. With tinny percussion, folky acoustic strumming, melodic basslines,
and vocals way up front, it seems that singer/guitarist Aurelio Valle,
occasional Bowery Electric cohort drummer Wayne B. Magruder, and
bassist/keyboardist Sean Donovan have ditched the obtuse atmospheric
electronics that made their debut so impenetrable. The biggest shock, though,
comes not from more straight-ahead instrumentation, but from the quality of
songwriting. The opener slinks along a brooding line during the verses, until
an undeniably infectious, image-laden chorus, in which Valle sings, "See your
fireflies hover at the dark/ Following tracers scattered in the park/ Following
me."
And much of Scavengers finds Calla on similarly melodic and gorgeous
ground. The album's greatest strength is its consistent moodiness-- the
brooding air of desperation and paranoia that looms but never wallows in
self-importance. It's evident in the twangy "Hover over Nowhere," which is
framed by sluggish slow-core drums washed away by a (slightly) brighter chorus
with a lamenting guitar packed with reverb. The claustrophobic "Traffic Sound"
sports a low-end pulse and ominous guitar riff similar to the one in
Portishead's "Sour Times." "Love of Ivah" is a sparse guitar and bass ballad
in which Valle remarks, "I hope I never see you in another life/ I just might
try seeking shelter underneath my skin."
If the music and lyrics create the mood of Scavengers, Valle's vocals
realize and perfect it. His breathy, sometimes whispered delivery sounds
alternately affected and apathetic, as though he's fatally wounded and using
his waning strength to attempt to shrug it off. Though his approach is
potentially disastrous, he sounds utterly genuine, like when he sings,
"Sorry for the inconvenience/ It's only 'cause I'm losing patience," after
the song has just rapidly built up to dynamic cacophony.
Calla temporarily revert back to the ways of their debut on two Scavengers
tracks, "Mayzelle" and "A Fondness for Crawling." While neither song seems out
of place, both serve as the record's low points. When a band is as adroit as
Calla at more or less "conventional" songwriting, atmospheric compositions
consisting of polyrhythmic tablas, atonal hums, and harsh scraping sounds
simply feel like unnecessary experiments.
But for the most part, Calla bypass revisiting their difficult debut and
instead reinvent themselves as a brooding, masterfully melodic pack. And
Scavengers is testament to the success that comes when a band turns
its back on self-written exposition, and expertly comes out of its shell.
-Richard M. Juzwiak