calico haunts

The softly lit, unsaturated photos that grace the packaging of Calico Haunts' second record, After All, transform familiar, idyllic images with slightly psychedelic hues: A couple runs through a field toward a lake, their figures washed into pale tones. The same pair climbs logs in the same light. Even the cover is but a tall tree, its knotty figure refracted and reflected against its own shadow, both swirled through a bright sepia glow.These figures suggest much about the 12 tracks inside, recorded at home in Chapel Hill by singer/ songwriter Alexander Holt Iglehart and multi-instrumentalist Jenni Snyder before Calico Haunts later evolved into a five-piece band. Instrumental opener "Early Easter Afternoon," for instance, begins with gentle tambourine jangles, easy acoustic strums and slow organ swells behind glistening electric guitar. Slowly, it drifts and blurs away into fuzz. Iglehart's detached vocals finally arrive through a distant echo during "Couvert Le Meurtre." A shimmering guitar washes over a simple, casual shuffle. A pair of harmonica solos enter and exit almost as asides. Snyder's nonchalant harmonies drift in and out. Nothing's ever too direct.Druggy and drenched in reverb, the guitars of "Killingsworth" score Iglehart's haunted memories of an altercation he'd like to forget, while the title track burns slowly before igniting into a heavily distorted guitar that fights against a humid organ and a bluesy harp. Instrumental "White Widow" later reprises those instruments into a swampy stomp. Both tunes are reminiscent of a hazy take on Neil Young's mid-'70s electric output, but the rest of the disc is considerably more pacific. "North of Pine Hollow" and "House by the Highway" are slow, deliberate strolls, Eric Haugen adding the mournful cries of his pedal steel.A gorgeously blurred folk record, After All is the aural equivalent of a long, foggy drive along a desolate mountain highway on a late summer night, the sun setting orange just beyond the peaks. -spencer griffith, independent weekly ******************************************************* ************************************************************ * Listening to the latest release by Chapel Hill-based band Calico Haunts, After All, brings to mind an awful lot of adjectives and comparisons, none of which truly do justice to the visionary music contained within the recording itself. The album mixes elements of Psychedelia, country-rock, and the best traits of singer-songwriter atmosphere to create a majestic blend that finds itself referencing familiar signposts while at the same time remaining wholly original-and making perfect sense in the 21st century . On the Beach and Tonight’s the Night find themselves shoulder to shoulder with Moby Grape, Delta Momma Blues and the Best of Leonard Cohen. Strong words, indeed, but the proof is in the sprawling production and the swaggering, moody mid-tempo grooves that inhabit After All.Formed when Michael Rank and Nikos Chremos from local heroes Snatches of Pink urged Baltimore expatriate vocalist/songwriter Alexander Iglehart to find a full-band vehicle for his songs, Calico Haunts began life in the Spring of 2006 with a lineup including Rank, Chremos, and drummer Cameron Weeks (Black Skies). The band’s first album, Funeral Parlour Blues, released in the Autumn of 2007, was a sparse, sometimes dour-and at times tentative-first step into Iglehart’s sprawling songwriting. The story had begun, but a significant chapter had yet to be written.After All is a giant leap forward in every way. Relying on his own recording skills, Alex-along with new Calico Haunts recruit Jenni Snyder (Grand National,Whiskeytown)-recorded the album at their house in Chapel Hill utilizing their trusty 8 track Tascam to marvelous, swirling effect. The improvement is profound: massive amounts of reverb-an effect that is practically its own instrument on the record-provide a perfect foundation for sometimes distorted, sometimes chiming, Byrds-ian guitars (for the best example of this marriage go straight to closing number “Shallow Seas”), bluesy harmonica, and strong songcraft. Tracks like “Capricorn Sun” ooze with paisley sensibility, while the understated, country tinged beauty of “North of Pine Hollow” drips with West Coast strut. The title track itself is a lovely mix of Neil Young stomp and Nikki Sudden groove, with gorgeous harmony vocals and a harrowing harmonica track by Snyder.During the making of After All, Alex and Jenni set about recruiting a full band and brought on board former Fake Swedish member Eric Haugen-who plays not only guitar but pedal steel, and is featured on three of the album’s twelve tracks including the previously mentioned “Shallow Seas”- and Wylie Pamplin (also on guitar), who provides the lead guitar track on the country rock influenced “House by the Highway.” The drum kit slot was filled with Moaners member Laura King. Recreating the magic of an album as singular as After All in the live setting is no mean feat, but Haugen, King and Pamplin have risen to the challenge of translating Alex and Jenni’s vision of the album into an accessible, visceral, rock and roll experience.The true test of a great record is one that sounds familiar, contemporary and reverential all at the same time. With After All, Calico Haunts have passed the test. In fact, through creating their own blend of music from several different time-honored sources, they’ve come up with a record that surpasses all expectations-certainly for a sophomore release-in scope, production, genre and writing.-John Howie Jr.