Andrew Rose is back with the latest instalment from his Callière project. His varied career has seen him work at the BBC at the height of the original shoegaze scene to being a fellow DKFM Shoegaze Radio DJ with his essential show Pristine Masters. His knowledge of the scene is unrivalled which makes the release of Float, the new Callière album, appointment listening here in the Static Sounds Clubhouse.
April’s Fade album had quite a dark and introspective feel which really embodied the colder months the songs were recorded in. I wondered if Rose had taken a different approach to these new songs. He had this to say.
“This album came as a bit of a surprise. I usually record over the winter when it’s cold and dark, then stop and other things for most of the year. This year I kept on going, with new songs written between February and September. Float has, I hope, more of the light and optimism that was not there at the end of 2023 for me but is there now. Maybe it helps that so much of it was written while the sun was shining?”
Sounds like we’re in for an upbeat listen. Let’s dive in and see.
The album opens on the soaring soundstage of ‘Black Grooves’. Lyrically the track tells the tale of Enrico Caruso recording the first truly popular album of the modern age. Musically we are doused in waves of textured fuzz and reverb. It’s a gazers delight and is an astute choice as an opener.
Next up is ‘Radio’, a love song to the medium where Rose spent a great deal of his career. As a fella of a certain age, I can identify to this song strongly. There was nothing like finding that station where they played the music you craved. This is a cracking pop song that whips along at a fair old lick. The joy that went into writing this is borne out in the melodies within and I guarantee it will have you smiling.
The nostalgia continues on the next track, ‘Chrome Dreams’. This time it celebrates the joys of taping to and listening to cassettes as well as the chaos that ensued when the tape machine chewed your prized music up. The song opens on a rhythmic almost goth-tinged bassline which opens up into glistening dreampop number. It’s reminiscent of Cocteau twins in places and Ultra Vivid Scene in others. A sublime blend if ever there was one.
This first collection of songs celebrating recorded music comes to an end with ‘Silver’. A collection of memories of Roses CD collection. From Slowdive to Cocteau Twins he takes those recollections and swathes them in layers of washed-out guitar, sparkling synth and THAT bass sound. There’s a romance to the melodies on show and it only adds to the warmth of the lyrics.
As we leave that first set behind Rose ensures we know we are entering a new phase of this album with ‘Lost in Time’. A song based around the difficulties of our songwriter dealing with performing in 5/4 time for this very track. Speaking as someone who cannot play to the simplest click track, I take my hat off to Rose for this glitchy, itchy and mesmerising song. The addition of electronica in lieu of a drumkit really catches the listeners attention and acts as an anchor for the brilliant performances.
It’s straight into the euphoric ‘Sunflower Girl’ next. Again Rose’ pop credentials come up trumps with this hook laden ode. The song pulses along nicely and radiates warmth with every line. The cymbal work on the drum part is exquisite as is the guitar part. When the track breaks to half time and then kicks back in it’s so effective. Oh, and that outro just takes me back to Surfs Up era Beach Boys. My album stand-out track for sure.
Rose channels his inner Gilmour next with the Pink Floyd flavours of ‘Cold War’. He ruminates on how easy it would be slip back to the dark days of the eighties and the constant threat of war. Reading the touchpoints of that time from Checkpoint Charlie to The Kremlin, from Berlin to Washington as if it’s the shipping forecast is profoundly impactful. Coming after the unbridled joy of the previous track only increases its impact. Very clever track listing.
The album closes out with the title track. Opening on a subdued intro the song soon blooms into a technicolour explosion of harmonies and call and response guitars. The guitar riff in the choruses is particularly effective in driving the song forward coupled with those ooh la la backing vocals. For me the high point comes when that guitar solo just erupts and dominates the song for a brief moment. It never leaves from that point and takes us to a crescendo to close out.
There is a stunning remix of ‘Float’ by Nick Noble of 93millionmilesfromthesun fame which is available now as the b side to the single.
Float is a stunning listen and would play well in vinyl form with the first four songs forming a very neat Side A. Whilst there is that brief moment of darkness on ‘Cold War’ this is an uplifting listen and flows nicely track to track. It has a little bit of everything that you want from a dreampop album and more. I need to call out that decision to include ‘Lost in Time’ even though it’s so different in tone to the rest of the album. It’s clever in two ways. First it bookends that first set of four songs and second it signposts that we are entering a section where we won’t know what’s coming next. That, I found really exciting.
Float is released via the Callière Bandcamp page on Friday November 29th.
You can follow Callière on social media here….
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