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| 3.0 good | zillah | January 13th 12 |
While Dan Bejar soaks up the praise, this other member of the New Pornographers has seen her solo records go pretty much ignored or, more strangely in the case of her great debut record, be met with pretty middling reviews. In a sense, Calder has the deck stacked against her. Obscured by annoying bandmates in Immaculate Machine and faced with the thankless task of "replacing" Neko Case in her uncle's more famous band, her songwriting talent is not the first thing most people associate to her. While she should have dispelled any doubt on her great 2010 release Are You My Mother?, a case could be made that she shot herself in the foot a bit on this probably too-quick follow up. Bright and Vivid lacks the emotional power of Are You My Mother, and some of the songs sound underwriten or, more likely, unfinished. "Right Book", "City of Sounds" and opener "One Two Three" are terrific examples of the idiosyncratic, not-quite-dream-pop songs Calder writes at her best, but there is a certain anonymity to much of the rest. This is a shame as Calder is---again---a very strong songwriter who knows how to write for her own voice. Her relatively obscurity is probably a little unfair; but, regardless, she'll just have to try harder next time.
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