The Calvinists, hailing from Bantry in West Cork, specialise in alternative folk-rock. Loud and proud, they released their debut album ‘King Of Lies’, after recording “over eight gloriously sunny days in West Cork last July”.
Opening track What A Life could only be described as a glorious amalgamation of noise. Offbeat vocals and instruments work against rather than with each other, with surprisingly great results. The vocals are coarse throughout, and the guitars are layered and fuzzy to compliment this.
Padded Cell follows the same formula, with the welcome addition of horns. The instrumentation during the intro and the bridge is sparser, featuring simple jangly guitars chords and the murmer of backing vocals. This contrasts greatly with the intense chorus – vocals are boisterous and noisey – while the lyrics are stark. “Telling jokes all day long/Going mad when they go wrong …”
Stepping Stones is aptly titled, with the rhythm mimicking a walk across them. This is reinforced further with repeated lyrics. Sounding more like New Orleans natives than Bantry boys, lead single Anchor is furiously energetic, with lead and backing vocals perfectly in sync.
Starting out sombre with moody horns and moodier vocals, Jump Into My Arms is the best example of their top notch musicianship, with a mixture of tempos. The guitars on Branded Cained need to be heard to be believed – echoing and warbling all through the intro. It is impressive how they’ve managed to play the instrument differently on every song.
At Least I Got A Song Of You is emotional – musically constrained, but lyrically despairing. “A tornado’s causing havoc in my heart/You’re the one that makes it stop and start/It’s ruining everything I love …” The least busy track on the album instrumentally, the harmonies are softer, as are the guitar, ukulele and horns. This is a definite summertime folk anthem, and will sure to become a favourite for festival slots.
‘King Of Lines’ is an impressive debut. The band flit from genre to genre like it is nothing to them – from country, to alt rock, with a bit of folk thrown in for good measure. The vocals are diverse throughout, the instrumentation even more so. The future looks bright for The Calvinists – though one wonders what genre the band could possibly conquer next.