Southern California has this way of dulling the senses, especially during early July. A toxic mixture of apathy, gloom and Sublime cause most of us to forget that So-Cal music isn’t necessarily meant to be enjoyed with a Corona and a blunt. This is especially true in San Diego, where Calico Horse (formerly The Clock Work Arm) has released this summer's most hauntingly beautiful record.
Before I mention that a certain someone from a certain San Diego band is producing Calico Horse’s debut album Mirror, I have to mention Pall Jenkins. Whoops. Dammit. Okay, at least I tried. This is unquestionably Emily Neveu’s show, it just doesn’t hurt that producer/musician extraordinaire Pall Jenkins of Black Heart Procession has a firm hold on Calico Horses’ reigns.
After working tirelessly to record an album under the name of The Clock Work Arm with Jenkins in San Diego, Neveu and her band mates decided to split ways and start anew, kind of. Insert Goodbye Blue Monday’s guitarist, Matt Mournian, Comfortable for You drummer Tom Pert and work by original TCWA bassist Dave Pettijohn and Calico Horse was born.
It should come as no surprise that Jenkins and company have thrown the guitar a little further back than normal and allowed the piano and Neveu’s voice to shine through. Though on tracks such as “Interlude 5” it’s nearly impossible to discern the line where Three Mile Pilot stopped and Calico Horse begins. Don’t get me wrong, a beautiful piano and a band saw go together like pizza and ranch dressing, it just seems almost too Jenkins-esque at times.
But when everything comes together, like on tracks such as “Happy Placebo Syringe Day,” “Hi Fi Plane Ride” and “Colors,” Calico Horse's burgeoning talent is all too immense to ignore. Percussion abounds, coupled with ascending and descending piano as well as upbeat and then immediately brooding guitar—it would appear that Mirror is a study of contradictions.
Elegantly hidden by Neveu’s disarming voice are themes of death and rebirth, catharsis and regret. Throughout thirteen tracks, listeners are taken on a journey that borders on a psychedelic trip at times and a whimsical picnic in a cemetery at others. It would be easy to classify Mirror as an indie-rock album (whatever that means anymore), but it could just as easily be found comfortably resting in a bin of Country albums. The one constant throughout Mirror is that it seems to be an open dialog between Neveu and well, herself, like a diary illustrated instead of written—mostly left for future interpretation. Neveu is deeply introspective, and what sometimes feel like entirely spontaneous lyrics allow Mirror to succeed in doing what all music should—evoke emotion not only from the listener but from the performer as well.
Mirror has an uncanny knack for making you smile even though you know you’re not supposed to be. It’s like laughing at a horrendously off-color joke at the worst moment; you don’t know how you’re laughing, but you are. Mirror is a summer album, no matter what people say. It’s all about having a different perspective—a much, much, much darker perspective.
Artist:
www.awakeintheclouds.com
myspace.com/calicohorsemusic
Download:
Calico Horse – “Father Feed Me” – [mp3]
Calico Horse – “Idioteque” – [mp3]
Calico Horse – “Happy Placebo Syringe Day” – [mp3]
