The Spill Magazine The Spill Magazine
The Spill Magazine The Spill Magazine
The Spill Magazine The Spill Magazine
  • Reviews
    • Album Reviews
    • Features
    • Live Reviews
    • Festivals
  • Portraits
  • Headlines
    • News
    • Contests
    • Events
    • Entertainment Headlines
    • Concert Listings
    • Toronto Concert Venues
  • New Music
    • Premieres
    • TOTD
  • Books + Movies
  • Scene Unseen
  • About
15
new
SPILL ALBUM PREMIERE: ELECTRONIC THE DUCK – EP1
SPILL NEW MUSIC: MAX FOREMAN – “SECOND TIME AROUND”
SPILL NEW MUSIC: ISLANDS ANNOUNCE FIRST ALBUM IN FIVE YEARS ‘ISLOMANIA’ + SHARE “(WE LIKE TO) DO IT WITH THE LIGHTS ON” VIA ROYAL MOUNTAIN RECORDS
SPILL NEW MUSIC: PAUL WELLER ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM ‘FAT POP (VOLUME 1)’ SET TO BE RELEASED MAY 14 ON POLYDOR RECORDS | NEW SONG + VIDEO FOR “COSMIC FRINGES” OUT NOW
SPILL VIDEO PREMIERE: SWALLOWS – “IN THE SHADOW OF THE SEVEN STARS”
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MONOWHALES – DAYTONA BLEACH
SPILL NEWS: GREG KEELOR ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM ‘SHARE THE LOVE’ WITH VIDEO FOR THE FIRST SINGLE “WONDER”
SPILL VIDEO PREMIERE: BARA HARI – “WEAPON”
SPILL VIDEO PREMIERE: ELSKA – “ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS”
SPILL VIDEO PREMIERE: CAPTAIN DANGER – “HOLLY”
SPILL CONTEST: MANNEQUIN VANITY RECORDS GIVEAWAY – ENTER TO WIN A GIANT MVR PRIZE PACK!
SPILL ALBUM PREMIERE: CHARLIE NIELAND – DIVISIONS
SPILL FEATURE: NEW HIGHS, NEW LOWS – A CONVERSATION WITH WE WERE SHARKS
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: CITYLIGHTZ – “MY LIFE”
SPILL NEW MUSIC: CLOUD NOTHINGS’ “NOTHING WITHOUT YOU” FROM THE BAND’S EIGHTH STUDIO ALBUM ‘THE SHADOW I REMEMBER’ OUT NOW VIA CARPARK RECORDS
  • MORE
  • Reviews
    • Album Reviews
    • Features
    • Live Reviews
    • Festivals
  • Portraits
  • Headlines
    • News
    • Contests
    • Events
    • Entertainment Headlines
    • Concert Listings
    • Toronto Concert Venues
  • New Music
    • Premieres
    • TOTD
  • Books + Movies
  • Scene Unseen
  • About
  • Spill Menu
    • Reviews
      • Album Reviews
      • Features
      • Live Reviews
      • Festivals
    • Portraits
    • Headlines
      • News
      • Contests
      • Events
      • Entertainment Headlines
      • Concert Listings
      • Toronto Concert Venues
    • New Music
      • Premieres
      • TOTD
    • Books + Movies
    • Scene Unseen
    • About
Album Reviews
127
previous article
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: C & C SURF FACTORY - GARAGE CITY
next article
Spill Artist Portrait by Daniel Adams: The Black Keys

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: KATHRYN CALDER – KATHRYN CALDER

Kathryn Calder
Kathryn Calder
File Under: Music
RATING

Kathryn Calder is the space between sentences, the calm before the storm, the tether that grounds the otherworldly personalities of her band The New Pornographers. Originally brought on to perform touring duties with Neko Case’s solo career blossoming, Calder became an indispensible foil to the enigmatic Dan Bejar, the blossoming Case, and the bombastic A.C. Newman.

Calder’s self-titled latest effort follows a familiar, if more robust and accessible, trajectory. Her records have all been touched a case of the melancholy. Gentle love songs hinge on the realization that the documented moments of euphoria will pass. Love and happiness, sadness and despair are all impermanent, subject to time and tide. This too shall pass. Hope swells in fits and spurts.

Kathryn Calder’s two opening tracks return to the best of her heavy-hearted balladry. “Slow Burning” is a hypnotic burner that allows Calder’s voice – her wispy, wanting, princess wood nymph voice – to explore her own nightmares in dreamy, ethereal synth-pop away from corporeal clutter. The bouncy “Take a Little Time,” however, boasts a hook worthy of the New Pornographers, and contrasts nicely with the placidly downtrodden numbers. The track hoists the record and introduces a new sonic think space for the artist – even if she dwells there for only a little while.

The remaining tracks stick to Calder’s comfort zone. Her voice elevates average material and her songwriting, which taps into a darker, shadowy corner of life, has always been a strength. Consider her 2010 record Are You My Mother?, which was written as she cared for her dying, ALS-stricken mother. Calder’s never been afraid of laying her soul and life’s greatest questions out on the page – and if you listen carefully, she might tap into your feels too. “When You See My Blood” provides some of the same subtext, devolving mysteriously into a distorted sonic soundscape, suggesting there’s never really an answer to all the questions she dares to ask in her lyrics.

“Clouds will shift and roll / We are carried on the air between us / Time will smoke us out but it’s really good / to see you here like this,” she sings on “Remembering,” the final track on the album. Even now, in times of relative ecstasy, she laments that an end is near. There’s always an end. Even if, for the moment, it’s just the end of a welcome record from an under-heralded princess of indie-rock. Kathryn Calder might never answer life’s questions or commit fully to the meditative synth-pop qualities of her best work, but there’s plenty here to broaden minds and willing ears.

– James David Patrick

Artist Website: kathryncalder.ca
Label Website: fileundermusic.com

Item Reviewed

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: KATHRYN CALDER – KATHRYN CALDER

Author

James David Patrick

Here's what we think...
Spill Rating
Fan Rating
Rate Here
New Criteria
10
0.0
8.0
Total Spill Rating
0.0
Total Fan Rating
You have rated this
Album Reviews
album reviewsfile under: musickathryn calderthe new pornographers
album reviews, file under: music, kathryn calder, the new pornographers
About the Author
James David Patrick
James David Patrick
James David Patrick has a B.A. in film studies from Emory University, an M.F.A in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine, and an honorary Ph.D. in bullshitting about everything else from the College of Two Pints. His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in PANK, Monkeybicycle, Squalorly, Specter Lit, and Bartleby Snopes among other wordy magazines. While he does not like to brag (much), he has interviewed Tom Hanks and is pretty sure you haven't. He bl-gs about music, movies, and nostalgia at thirtyhertzrumble.com and runs the James Bond Social Media Project at thejamesbondsocialmediaproject.com. James lives in Pittsburgh, PA.
RELATED ARTICLES
album reviewskathryn calderthe new pornographers
 
8.0
Monowhales

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MONOWHALES – DAYTONA BLEACH

by Gerrod Harris on March 5, 2021
MONOWHALES Daytona Bleach Independent Over the years, Toronto’s MONOWHALES have become an essential band among the independent scene known for their impressive alt-pop sound and their [...]
 
8.0
Hysterics

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: HYSTERICS – SLEEP

by Gerrod Harris on February 27, 2021
Hysterics Sleep Tarantula Tapes Returning with their sophomore EP, Sleep, Newmarket, ON- based Hysterics is returning with an unrelenting and uncompromising punk record. Following 2018’s [...]
 
6.0
Melvins
10

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MELVINS – GLUEY PORCH TREATMENTS (VINYL REISSUE)

by Nathan Pike on February 26, 2021
Melvins Gluey Porch Treatments (Vinyl Reissue) Ipecac Recordings Years ago in the small town of Montesano, WA, a three-piece band was playing with a musical fire they [...]
 
10
NOFX
9.9

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: NOFX – SINGLE ALBUM

by Jake Collier on February 26, 2021
NOFX Single Album Fat Wreck Chords NOFX is still around 40 years since their early beginnings, and what is there left to do when the rest of their era’s punk bands have fallen or sold out? Well, [...]
 
8.0
Alice Cooper

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: ALICE COOPER – DETROIT STORIES

by Gerrod Harris on February 26, 2021
Alice Cooper Detroit Stories earMUSIC For his 28th studio album, Alice Cooper has returned with Detroit Stories, his first record since 2017’s Paranormal. The album features15 tracks [...]
Latest Album Reviews
View All
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MONOWHALES – DAYTONA BLEACH
8.0
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: HYSTERICS – SLEEP
8.0
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MELVINS – GLUEY PORCH TREATMENTS (VINYL R...
6.0
10
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: NOFX – SINGLE ALBUM
10
9.9
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: ALICE COOPER – DETROIT STORIES
8.0
Latest Live Reviews
View All
 
Lord Huron

SPILL LIVE REVIEW: LORD HURON ALIVE FROM WHISPERING PINES: EPISODE 2 OF 4 (VIRTUAL EVENT)

by Robert Defina on February 18, 2021
93
 
Small Town Titans

SPILL LIVE REVIEW: SMALL TOWN TITANS @ SMT HQ, YORK (PA)

by Gerrod Harris on February 6, 2021
37
 
Lord Huron

SPILL LIVE REVIEW: LORD HURON ALIVE FROM WHISPERING PINES: EPISODE 1 OF 4 (VIRTUAL EVENT)

by Robert Defina on January 7, 2021
439
 
Wardruna

SPILL LIVE REVIEW: WARDRUNA – ‘KVITRAVN’ PRESENTATION (ONLINE PERFORMANCE)

by Samantha Wu on December 10, 2020
200
 
Evanescence

SPILL LIVE REVIEW: EVANESCENCE @ ROCK FALCON STUDIO, NASHVILLE (TN)

by Melinda Welsh on December 5, 2020
63
Tweets by @spillmagazine

SPILL MAGAZINE MENU
  • Home | The Spill Magazine
  • Premieres
  • Album Reviews
  • Books + Movies
  • Features
  • Live Reviews
  • Festivals
  • Portraits
  • News
  • Events
  • Entertainment Headlines
  • Concert Listings
  • Toronto Concert Venues
  • About Us
  • Contests
  • New Music
  • Spill Magazine Contributors
  • TOTD
  • Privacy Policy
  • The Scene Unseen
  • Newsletter

Copyright © 2020 | The Spill Magazine
All Rights Reserved.

TRENDING RIGHT NOW
   
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: NOFX – SINGLE ALBUM
1941
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY – MECHANICAL SOUL
683
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: PAUL McCARTNEY – McCARTNEY III
581
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: GUIDED BY VOICES – STYLES WE PAID FOR
564
 
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: CHURCH OF TREES FEAT. CAROLE POPE – “WORLD’S A BITCH”
465
 
SPILL LIVE REVIEW: LORD HURON ALIVE FROM WHISPERING PINES: EPISODE 1 OF 4 (VIRTUAL EVENT)
439
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: BLACK PISTOL FIRE – LOOK ALIVE
386
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: GEORGE THOROGOOD AND THE DESTROYERS – LIVE IN BOSTON, 1982: THE COMPLETE CONCERT
351
 
SPILL NEW MUSIC: “SHAMELESS” STAR WILLIAM H. MACY RELEASES DEBUT SINGLE “WHISKEY DELL” UNDER “WILLIE CREEKS” MONIKER
333
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE DIRTY NIL – FUCK ART
288
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: CHRIS CORNELL – NO ONE SINGS LIKE YOU ANYMORE
287
 
SPILL FEATURE: TRULY ORCHESTRATING HIS OWN LIFE – A CONVERSATION WITH RICK SPRINGFIELD
281
 
SPILL FEATURE: HIS STORY RIGHT NOW – A CONVERSATION WITH cEvin Key
278
ENTERTAINMENT HEADLINES