CALLA
Strength in Numbers
Beggars Banquet
· The epic continues on Calla’s fifth full-length.
When I first heard Calla’s 2003 album Televise, I was hooked on the band before they even kicked into the chorus of the album opener "Strangler." It’s not rare for a band to have that kind of immediate impact. What is rare is that a band lives up to that promise four years and two albums later.
Taking ominous post-punk, vintage shoe-gazing and air-lock tension, Calla builds upon a rock-solid catalogue with 13 tracks that find different ways to burn themselves into your brain. Whether it’s the compelling restraint of "Sylvia’s Song," the dissonant sonic blast of "Sanctify" or the dirty groove of "Simone," Strength in Numbers plays like an instant classic on the first listen.
Best of all, Calla achieves all of this while maintaining a distinct voice. Coming out of the New York scene, it would be easy to compare them to an outfit like Interpol. While both bands have obviously listened to a bit of Joy Division, Interpol sound like mimics, while Calla have found a way to reinterpret brooding minor chord rock. Listening to Strength in Numbers you could draw lines to Joy Division, Girls vs. Boys and a host of others, but in the end, they would all lead back to Calla.
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