Kathryn Calder
Are You My Mother?
File Under Music
by David Chiu
Best known as the keyboardist/singer in The New Pornographers, Canada’s Kathryn Calder steps out on her own with her winning solo debut. Those who have recently listened to the Pornographers’ most recent album Together can draw some parallels to Are You My Mother in that that the songs are bright-sounding, intricate and melodic (and there are also several Pornographers who appear on the record). But Are You My Mother is also a personal album drawn from the period in Calder’s life as she helped her terminally ill mother. In general the songs are very well-crafted from the up-beat sounding pop of “Castor and Pollux” and “Slip Away” through the intimate atmospheric balladry of “Low” and the spare “So Easily”; Calder also has a lovely singing voice. Are You My Mother? shows Calder standing tall and fine on her own.
NewBeats 