It seems that every folk or alt-country style band I’ve fallen in love with in recent days hails from our neighbor to the north. That’s Canada for the geographically challenged. Caledonia are the most recent twang-tinged band to grace our inbox and their debut album, We Are America, has been in steady rotation for a few weeks now.
I always love a good band back story. Caledonia’s bio talks of the lead singer/guitarist looking into the mirror at his friend’s apartment in Calgary. Steve Gates saw the signs of his crossroad from the darkness under his eyes and two days on a bus from the Yukon didn’t help.‚ To commemorate the occasion he shaved his head, wandered the streets and penned the lyrics for “Restless Year,” the opening track off of We Are America.
And it’s a great track that grabs you when you realize the lyrics really say “The art fag in my is restless.” I had to rewind a few times to see if I was hearing correctly. After “Restless Year” you fall right into the Americana styled title track that starts off with vocal harmonies over an acoustic guitar before kicking into gear at the 34 second mark. A bit later you’ll hear an indie pop rocker “Friday Night Rock Song” that’s becoming the highlight of the album for me.
It’s Caledonia’s debut so there’s not much to complain about, especially since there are some really great singles, but the juice of the album seemed front-loaded and my attention began to fade toward the end. One thing is for sure, though. We Are America shows that Caledonia is a band to keep your eyes on in the coming years.
Video: Caledonia – Friday Night Rock Song
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Canada Indie is just high calibor stuff! Don’t be ashamed!
Thanks for these guys. I’m enjoying them.
of course I meant *Caliber. I can spell…
This is a great disc. I really like that there are a lot of unique influences on the album without sounding like any specific band in particular. The Plague has an unbelievablee guitar riff.