Category:
Pop

Try if you like:
New Pornographers

A somewhat well-known Canadian playwright once said that good writing, good art and good thinking should fetishize one specific question and one questions only: who are you now? (Who am I now? Who are we now?) and clearly he isn’t alone in this thinking. Continuing from the heartbreaking beauty and grief of her 2010 release, Are You My Mother?, Kathryn Calder seems obsessed with that very question.

Sonically, Bright and Vivid is full of bright, quirky pop songs showered in lush orchestration and clever melodic touches but equally awash in self-referential quotation. Each song bears a slight resemblance to one previous while managing to build on the ideas of its predecessor. 'Walking In My Sleep,' for example is a catchy little pop song draped in little musical sequins; followed immediately by the more sprawling 'All The Things' that kicks the sequins across the stage. This does become somewhat trying after a number of listens as the patterns in her song writing become clear and we begin to long for a real surprise that never really arrives. 

Where Bright and Vivid never falters is in its absolute commitment to emotional presence and honesty. One never feels like Calder is being disingenuous with her audience. Even the album’s opener, 'One Two Three' is an emotionally raw kick start. The strongest two tracks, 'Five More Years' and 'Younger Than We’ve Ever Been,' remind us beautifully that grief, loss and love aren’t fleeting emotions and that healing takes time.

Who Kathryn Calder is now is one of Canada’s best and brightest pop songwriters, poised to take over the small once-smokey clubs of our vast landmass and kick our collective hearts in the ass with every bright note.