Captured Tracks
There’s no question Canadian pop eccentric Mac DeMarco was one of 2012’s biggest breakout stars so chances are some of that good fortune will rub off on former Makeout Videotape cohort Alex Calder. After all Calder is following in some very similar footsteps. Like the Mac Calder has bounced from Edmonton to Vancouver to Montreal ditched his old Collage Party moniker for his birth name signed to U.S. indie Captured Tracks and now made his introduction proper via a new EP Time . Most importantly though the two songwriters are still very much on the same musical page.
Over the course of seven tracks and 20 minutes Calder brings a familiar yet welcome brand of off-kilter songwriting that toes the line between lo-fi bedroom pop and roughed-up twee rock throwing in a bit of mind-tweaking psych and garage for good measure. However his songs aren’t nearly as tongue-in-cheek as those of his former musical collaborator with Calder playing it rather straight-faced as he hits that melancholic pop-rock sweet spot with hooky standouts like “Lethargic” “Suki and Me” and “Time” (the latter two of which originally showed up in rougher form as Collage Party tracks).
Calder is hardly some vocal virtuoso or Malmsteen-worshipping guitar geek but it’s all the rough-around-edges qualities of Time that make it so damn charming coming across as humble personal and eerily private.
Perhaps the only thing good to come out of Makeout Videotape breaking up is that we now get to hear the work of two gifted songwriters instead of just one.
Check out Time below courtesy of Exclaim!
