One Track Mind

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Kathryn Calder was originally hired by her uncle Carl Newman to serve as a stand-in for Neko Case when Case’s solo commitments clashed with her ability to tour with The New Pornographers. It would be difficult to imagine a more thankless task than being the substitute for one of the more powerhouse vocalists of the era, but Calder acquitted herself well enough to become a valued full-time member of the Pornographers, in addition to leading her own band, Immaculate Machine.

“Slip Away,” a track from Calder’s solo debut Are You My Mother? (to be released August 10th by File Under: Music), swings back and forth between quiet verses built around a hushed, somber piano line that recalls Neu or Cluster in their quieter moments and full band breaks with a soaring wordless vocal. The lyrics on the verses are melancholy and autumnal, most likely reflecting the fact that it was recorded while Calder was caring for her dying mother. Perhaps the neatest trick of all is that she’s created an artsy piece of female piano pop that manages to sound nothing at all like Tori Amos, Kate Bush, or Sarah McLachlan, which just goes to show that with talent and imagination, old genres can still be taught new tricks.

Calder deserves a lot of credit for creating a compelling track that relies very little on the established styles of Immaculate Machine or The New Pornographers. Not a bad piece of work for someone who spent much of her early career by being greeted by groans of disappointment by people who’d come out expecting to see someone else.