In my view, when you can arrest someone’s attention with a slow, soft, melencholy vibe, that’s saying something. With the absolute absence of hype, bells and whistles, there has to be something deep within the music itself that grabs you in the gut, that makes you want to silence the surrounding noise in order to hear it.
That is exactly the effect the song below by Her Name is Calla had on me. It was captivating and haunting all at once. I had to stop what I was doing, in fact, and blog about it.
Her Name is Calla is a six-piece indie band from the UK, and although you may not have heard of them, they’ve been around for several years, slowly gaining a following for their deep emotional vibe that breaks with convention in favor of heart. One blogger described their sound as melancholy without being depressing. I think that description fits.
The song below, “Thief”, is from their upcoming record The Quiet Lamb, to be released November 8. As I listened to its slow, growing theme, all I could think of was what an amazing movie soundtrack it would make. It reminded me of Samuel Barber’s classic “Adagio for Strings” (think the soundtrack from Platoon). Although it doesn’t actually sound like that piece, it sort of feels like it. And that’s a good thing.
Do yourself a favor and listen to the whole song. It starts slow and grows on you. See if it doesn’t capture your attention the way it did mine.