CALVA LOUISE – EP REVIEW


Calva Louise – Interlude for the Borderline
Calva Louise - EP
Unsettled EP (Ditto Music)

Release Date: Out Now

The superb Mancunian trio Calva Louise have finally unleashed their new EP upon the world and it really is the Christmas treat we’ve all been waiting for. ‘Interlude for the Borderline Unsettled’ is four tracks of musical exploration that I would thoroughly recommend you defecate before embarking on, it’s in everyone’s best interests. Opening with excellent recent single ‘Belicoso’, Calva Louise go directly for the jugular with their laser eyes and fire breathing Medusa head snakes (aka driving drums, intense vocals and the kind of guitars that you could fry an egg on). ‘Sleeper’ sounds like Muse being produced by Lizzo with the Flaming Lips and Bjork hanging out rolling Camberwell Carrots on a beaten-up leather sofa and that’s a party we all want to be invited too, right?

There’s a darker, more intense mood on ‘Adelante’ which takes the malevolently impish vocals of Jess Allanic and sets it to a brooding guitar line that the Arctic Monkeys would be very interested in if they found it hanging out on a street corner. Normally, I don’t much care for remixes on EPs but the Strange Bones Remix of ‘Belicoso’ turns the track in to something akin to a DeadMau5 reworking of a Sleigh Bells and Princess Superstar duet and it is probably the most danceable rock track you’ve heard this lifetime. Calva Louise look at the world differently and I love how the way they look sounds. It feels good in my ears and other areas too but this is a family show so, y’know, use your imagination.


Live Dates:

1st December – Yes Basement, Manchester
2nd December – The Garage (Attic Bar), Glasgow
3rd December – Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham w/Gaygirl + Honey & Flake
4th December – Shacklewell Arms, London
25th January – Rifffest 2020 @ Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, Leeds