Calvin - Last One to Drop

  by John Clarkson

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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Review

New Edinburgh band Calvin features in its line-up several long-serving members of the Scottish independent music scene. The band's three song second EP 'Last One to Drop' is primarily a demo, but the four man group have also been selling copies at gigs and also on their website. It is a band rule to make each new song they have recorded or written different from anything they have tackled before, and 'Last One to Drop', is a powerful amalgamation of several different contemporary sounds. The opening track 'I Can't Sleep' is reminiscent with its strident, jangly guitar and drumwork of the melodic pop of REM, while singer Neil Colquhoun's fragile and nervously energetic David Byrne-style vocals capture, with dark humour, the paranoia and anxiety of an insomniac caught awake in the middle of the night as his girlfriend sleeps behind him.The second song 'What's Going On ?' is the band's 'Lucy in the Sky of Diamonds' and psychedelic in its overtones, tells of an imaginary perfect day in which Xmas, sweet smells, the seaside and a new romance are all merged together. The final song 'Why Not Try' is a soft, thoughtful country rocker and telling of the collapse of a love affair, puts a new twist on an old theme in that its narrator, rather than bemoaning the end of the relationship, is pleased and delighted.These are strong songs, artfully crafted and performed, and Calvin deserve a wider audience.

Track Listing:-

1 I Can't Sleep
2 Whats Going On
3 Why Not Try