Her Name is Calla - Navigator

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 29 / 7 / 2014

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'Navigator' is the third album from the Leicester-formed band Her Name is Calla, who, despite having just three members, are spread out across four cities and from London via Leicester and upwards towards Manchester and York. They are for me Leicester's best band. Forget that group named after the Devil that recently played to 40,000 at Victoria Park and headlined Glastonbury. This is the real deal. Following on from 2010's album 'The Quiet Lamb', they continue to explore the depths of the human soul. Written mostly by Tom E.Morris and Adam Welkert,who are both prolific solo artists as well, 'Navigator' is not an easy listen, but it is a rewarding one. Ask anyone who has stayed late into the night and missed their last transport home to catch the last few notes of their recent home town gigs. They never come on time, but they are always worth waiting for as their most recent show in which they played a live soundtrack to 1920s silent witchcraft movie 'Haxan' once agin showed. 'I Was on the Back of a Nightingale' opens the new work, starting slowly with just an acoustic guitar and a soft vocal by Morris. It soon opens up, making the track much more wide with its sad violin by Sophie Green, and gentle brushes adding to the hidden depths that bleed into the song. 'The Roots Run Deep' is more electro, something I wasn't expecting. Vocally Tom is searching, sounding lonely, lost and really desperate. 'It's Called Daisy' is a slocore number, sad but short with a U2 feel to it. On 'Ragman Roll' Morris's vocals sounds haunted and fearful, as if he is in pain, over a piano that rolls out a tune, lost in the far distance, while Sophie's violin kicks in even more and killer drums lightly dance over a weakening heart. 'Meridian Arc' is all consuming, a journey of a song, in full widescreen and glorious colour. Tom's vocal here dips in like an added extra instrument. 'Navigator', the title track, starts off slowly, naked. It haunts and comforts in equal measures in an eerie, scary way, before really opening up, showing how much the band have come along since 'The Quiet Lamb'. 'Burial' is like a slow jam by the Doors, slowly seducing your heart while you sway along with it. 'A Second Life' crackles like a cinematic nightmare, melting into the blackess of nights. 'It Was Flood' is mostly instrumental, in the vein of early Leonard Cohen, before being sung as a duet at the end. 'Whale Fall: A Journal' is another electronic number but also sounds almost holy. 'Dreamlands' is a long track, that takes you to another dark corner, very un-pop like, neither happy or sad but has a feel of doom to it.It even has a sample of what sounds like the Titanic sinking. 'Perfect Prime' ends the near hour long album, rounding it all together coming over like the best thing Radiohead could only dream of writing. A fanastic, soul-searching masterpiece.

Track Listing:-

1 I Was on the Back of a Nightin
2 The Roots Run Deep
3 It's Called, 'Daisy'
4 Ragman Roll
5 Meridian Arc
6 Navigator
7 Burial
8 A Second Life
9 It Was Flood
10 Whale Fall: A Journal
11 Dreamlands
12 Dreamlands
13 Aposiopesis
14 The Roots Run Deep

Band Links:-

https://twitter.com/hernameiscalla
https://www.facebook.com/hernameiscalla
http://hernameiscalla.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.functionrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FunctionRecords/
http://functionrecords.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/functionrecordsuk
http://functionrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/functionrecords

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