Some days you just get floored by the marvellous talent some people seem to possess. For people like me, one of those days was Tuesday and one of those people was Thomas Calder. In his official capacity as instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and everything else for his project The Trouble With Templeton, Calder is an absolute aural knockout. I’ve had his debut on repeat since it landed in my rained-out mailbox and it is beguiling, beautiful and bemusing is equal amounts. With the kind of command over his voice that you’re more likely to hear from Tom Waits than a twenty-one year old, Calder’s songs grow and grow with intensity until you’re utterly transfixed and lose track of where you are. I can make this statement with unqualified authority as I missed two green lights and only realised when this huge angry truck started flashing his lights at me at the entry to my street. Jesus. Don’t people understand when you’re working?
When you’re in a band or performing outlet of any description, one of the most challenging things you can do is start searching for a singer. Let me rephrase that – most people can sing, but not everyone can be a vocalist. Calder, who apparently recorded this album in his bedroom (it’s what all the kids are doing these days) must have had some serious soundproofing going on, because his melodies wouldn’t find any challenge in walls. ‘Someday Soon’ is not either of the singles that have been released from the album but it’s the one that speaks to me the loudest, perhaps because it shows off Thomas’ skills shamelessly. Built around a cycling, descending acoustic guitar chord progression, ‘Someday Soon’ starts off as a ballad, turns into a Gregorian chant and by the end of it Calder is pulling out these pure white notes that honestly will garner comparisons to Jeff Buckley eventually (the anguished, sustained ‘oh’s end of this song are not that disssimilar from those which finish the last two minutes of ‘Grace‘). What interests me about it as a piece of music is the fact that there is no way in hell you could see any of that coming from the quiet, strummed outset. Quite the contrary; Calder’s voice sounds deliberately (and perhaps deceivingly) soft and broken in the first verse before that amazing throaty roar comes out. Ergo, do not listen to this when you’re supposed to be concentrating on something.
I don’t want to define this as folk, because it isn’t, nor does it really fit as anything else. It’s got these breathy vocal percussive elements that remind me of Spoon, the kind of darkness I’m used to hearing in Jack Ladder or Nick Cave’s work and ultimately it’s new, fresh and exciting, three words that don’t typically get associated with acts in this country that aren’t trying to be the next dance band of psychedelic throwback. It may take you a minute or so to hear the real power I’m talking about, but the journey there is half the magic. Every repeat spin uncovers another element of fascination with this track; backing vocals, the sounds of feet kicking inanimate objects in time, shaking, shuddering mysterious things from all angles. Imagination is an amazing thing. Come and hear it in full force.
The Trouble With Templeton – ‘Someday Soon’
P.S. Happy Birthday to the other half of this site, David, who turns 22 today.
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