Packaging of the year award goes to Her Name is Calla for this rather curious stop-gap release bridging last years 'The Heritage' (not so mini) mini-album and the in-the-pipeline full length 'The Quiet Lamb.' A CD and DVD set, produced in a limited run of just 300 numberd copies, they've gone all out on the presentation, complete with an origami DIY assembly box in which to house these discs and eco-friendly brown paper wrappers, all individually marked with 'bloody' thumbprints.
In some respects, the contents are rather an odds-and-sods miscellany of things, with the CD comprising a live recording of Heritage and longstanding set opener 'Nylon' recorded live at the Holy Trinity Church in Leeds in November 2008 and a brace of new songs in demo form. In others, it's a useful closure to last chapter in the band's career to date - they haven't played live since the Trinity Church Gig and are currently on a touring hiatus - and preface to the next.
Having seen the band live a few times, and having also been present at the THC gig, I'm pleased to report that the recording of 'Nylon' here is representative of the band's live performances: intense, passionate and textured. This version differs from the studio take in that the drums - a gentle rattle during the intro - begin like tribal barrage and only get bigger as the band build to a crescendo amidst the venue's natural cavernous reverb. The two new songs, the title track and 'Pour More Oil' are gentle, haunting and fragile, and notably sparse in comparison to all-out sonic assaults like 'A Moment of Clarity,' 'New England' and the aforementioned live rendition of 'Nylon.' Demos they may be, and I'd like to hear them fully developed, but wonder if to embellish them would strip them of their simple charm.
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The DVD features film footage to 'Nylon' and another song played at the Holy Trinity, 'With Eyes So Full of Sparks of Love' which is a song plundered from the further recesses of their back catalogue. It's nicely done, combining shots from two cameras, one of which is colour, the other black and white. Yes, Her Name is Calla are a band that can be reasonably described as 'arty' - but the albums of tour photos and various pieces of video footage that also feature on the disc provide ample evidence that they're anything but po-faced or pretentious. For the fans, perhaps, but it's interesting and in places amusing to see a different side of the band.
And there's more, including an animated film soundtracked by 'New England' which is a rather dark and rather strange piece, and, not quite fitting anywhere else in their output to date, seems an apposite inclusion here. In all, an interesting little document.
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