Vincent Callan

After thirty years in Liverpool, Vincent Callan packed his bags, left his home city and set up shop in Bristol. Within days of arriving, and without unpacking, Vincent was out playing acoustic nights in The Prom, The Old Duke and Joe Publics.Two weeks later Vincent met Scott Purnell, guitarist from Bristol’s Secret Shine and The Great Admirers, the pair immediately set to work on what was to become Callan’s debut album ‘Staranova’.Unlike many of his contemporaries Vincent’s discomforting and uplifting sound has its roots firmly planted in alternative rock, with influences as bi-polar as Carcass, Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age and Turin Breaks.Vincent’s live performances are simultaneously discomforting and reassuring. Stripping back the arrangement leaves the audience in no doubt of what’s at the heart of his lyrics. Imagine Damien Rice at his most sombre with Kurt Cobain’s feral vocals.Since recording ‘Stara Nova’ Vincent has hit the ground running, packing out the Louisiana at Razorblade’s launch of the album and cementing his Bristolian status by performing in the Orchid Tent at this year’s Ashton Court Festival‘Stara Nova’ is the debut solo album by singer/songwriter Vincent Callan, a beautifully-crafted, tortured recordFrom the opening track ‘Medicine’ we know we are heading into undiscovered territory. It’s hard, spiky and melodically astute. Set against a Chillis’esque funk rhythm, the violins, pianos and sweet backing harmonies soar, in contrast to Callan’s unnerving and exposed vocals.Citing Callan’s influences only acts as an aid to the first-time listener and shouldn’t detract from the fact that this is a deeply intimate and original piece of work. It’s accomplished and brave, and in bare songs like ‘Up to You’ and ‘Adrift’ we uncover moments of understated bliss.Stara Nova is engineered and produced by Jamie Gingell of nineties shoegazers Secret Shine. His orchestral, multi-layered arrangements in songs such as ‘Recompense’ and ‘Eider’, accompanied by Kathryn Smith’s angelic voice, often evoke those bitter-sweet moments from Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell’s ‘Ballad of the Broken Seas’.In some ways Stara Nova is Callan’s biopic of his first thirty years. Like many of us he’s had his fair dose of ups and downs. This record , however, isn’t a ‘poor me’ or for that matter a celebration of life, more a personal or , sometimes bitter, but often ironic slant on life’s trials and tribulations.Vincent Callan was born in 1970’s Liverpool and since picking up his toy ukulele at the tender age of 4, was destined to map a route to the full blown six string. Thirty something years later, having plied his trade in a handful of Liverpool bands, most notably, ‘The Most Terrifying Thing’ and ‘The Kesey Experiment’, Vincent found himself packing his bags, leaving his beloved home city to take up residence in Bristol. This spiritual split from his home town encouraged Vincent to gather his memoires on Stara Nova.On ‘Stara Nova’ you will unearth some real gems and downright masterpieces. Take the stark but spine-tingling ‘Up to You’ or the sumptuous epic ‘Armour’, a song so good that it’s 6 minute duration seems to only last all of 60 seconds, leaving you wanting more.