Up for Air

Calico Brothers

Up for Air
Performed By Calico Brothers
Album UPC 9421025870590
CD Baby Track ID 6144911
Label Double Happy Music
Released 2009-01-01
BPM 84
Rated 0
ISRC nzdh00900006
Year 2009
Spotify Plays 45
Writers
Writer Andrew Thorne
Pub Co Native Tongue
Composer Andrew Thorne
ClearanceFacebook Sync License,Traditional Sync,YouTube Sync ServiceOne Stop
Rights Controlled Master and Publishing Grant
Rights One-Stop: Master + 100% Pub Grant
Original/Cover/Public Domain original
Country NEW ZEALAND

Description

Country pop, twanging Telecasters, vocal harmonies and full beards.

Notes

After playing shows in the barn of their family farm in Waitakere, New Zealand, Calico Brothers broke into the modern music scene in 2008 with their debut EP, God Left Town.

After great reviews, shows throughout New Zealand and the inclusion of the title track on the double-platinum selling ‘Outrageous Fortune’ soundtrack, February 2009 found the band in the studio with a bag full of new songs and other things.

A basement studio. A live set up. The warmth of Turkish rugs. Tracks laid down with a minimum of fuss. The session’s effortlessly soulful performances are the product of the Calico’s rapport and their respect for many musical traditions.

The result is the band's latest album, Tell it to the Sun, which fuses Jimmy Calico's homespun intonation with Chet O’Connell’s twanging Telecaster guitar. Added to this, Jeff Calico’s Merseyside bass playing and Robbie Calico’s humble drums form the perfect foundation for keyboardist Fran Johansson to interweave baby grand, Hammond and Wurlitzer.

On top of all this is the band’s biggest asset: their vocal harmonies.

Live with Tell it to the Sun for a week in your car and you’ll drive safer. Put it on in your living room and you’ll start watching less TV. Go and see the band live and you’ll remember what it is that got you into music in the first place.

Calico Brothers: Three brothers, one cousin, one friend…all good.

________________________________________________________________________


Tell it to the Sun album reviews:

Calico Brothers-Tell it to the Sun. The New Zealand act which brought us one of 2008's top EPs makes their full length debut and picks up where they left off. Tell it the Sun is another serving of jangly popicana from the Calico Brothers, with a bit more of a country-rock orientation than the EP. You'll notice it with the banjos and harmonica on the title track and "Tread Carefully", while they lean to the pop side on the Beatleseque "Is There Anyone There?" and "Up for Air". Fans of The Jayhawks, The Meadows, Additional Moog and other similarly-oriented bands will love this one, as well of course fans of the original EP.

Absolute Power Pop

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Calico Brothers "Tell It to the Sun"
In the farway land of Waitakere, New Zealand, the Calico Brothers broke into the modern music scene in 2008 with their debut EP, God Left Town. In the basement studio, Chet O'Connell (guitar), Jimmy Calico(bass) and Robbie Calico(drums) finished their debut full length "Tell It To The Sun." This is gentle folk pop with a country twist, and it opens with the shimmering title track, complete with harmonica and slide guitar riffs. The wonderful songwriting pulls this album above the ordinary with the Lennonesque "Is There Anyone There?" and "Up For Air." Fans of Wilco, Jayhawks, America and CSN will surely enjoy the wonderful harmonies and subtle Telecaster sound. The low key ballads are not that exciting, but the mid tempo pop gems more than make up for it. "Tread Carefully" sounds like a Gerry Beckley classic and "Weight Around My Heart" is another well written single. The heavy echo effects on "Always Said I'd Do" distract a little from the melody, but it's still a keeper. This is a successful album, with perfect rural pop songs for a sunny day.

Powerpopaholic

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"Tell It To The Sun" is the full-length debut album from New Zealand's Calico Brothers, who made quite a splash on the indie jangle-pop scene with their 2008 EP, "God Left Town". The band is true to its name - composed of three brothers, one cousin, and one friend, all of whom are strumming out some of the most harmonious acoustic pop this side of The Traveling Wilburys.

This country pop party kicks off with what has become my favorite track, the title track. Bright and breezy, shining with harmonica, harmonies, and banjo, "Tell It To The Sun" taps into every positive quality that alt country pop has to offer. I am hard pressed to think of a more appropriate song for a lazy sunny Sunday. The guys keep slinging the hooks and harmonies one after another, as if they're in endless supply. While I find myself gravitating more to the upbeat numbers like "Is There Anyone There" and "Weight Around My Heart", there are several easy-going ballads here if you're in the mood for something slow and tranquil. A highlight of the latter is the Beatle-esque ""Up For Air". "Tread Carefully" is another standout that starts subtly (carefully), then builds ever so gently into a flowering climax.

With just the right amount of country flair adorning their melodious harmonies, the Calico Brothers should appeal to fans of The Jayhawks, The Thorns, and Grapes of Wrath. No need to "tread carefully" when debating on whether to purchase this one!

"Tell It To The Sun" is the full-length debut album from New Zealand's Calico Brothers, who made quite a splash on the indie jangle-pop scene with their 2008 EP, "God Left Town". The band is true to its name - composed of three brothers, one cousin, and one friend, all of whom are strumming out some of the most harmonious acoustic pop this side of The Traveling Wilburys.

This country pop party kicks off with what has become my favorite track, the title track. Bright and breezy, shining with harmonica, harmonies, and banjo, "Tell It To The Sun" taps into every positive quality that alt country pop has to offer. I am hard pressed to think of a more appropriate song for a lazy sunny Sunday. The guys keep slinging the hooks and harmonies one after another, as if they're in endless supply. While I find myself gravitating more to the upbeat numbers like "Is There Anyone There" and "Weight Around My Heart", there are several easy-going ballads here if you're in the mood for something slow and tranquil. A highlight of the latter is the Beatle-esque ""Up For Air". "Tread Carefully" is another standout that starts subtly (carefully), then builds ever so gently into a flowering climax.

With just the right amount of country flair adorning their melodious harmonies, the Calico Brothers should appeal to fans of The Jayhawks, The Thorns, and Grapes of Wrath. No need to "tread carefully" when debating on whether to purchase this one!

"Tell It To The Sun" is the full-length debut album from New Zealand's Calico Brothers, who made quite a splash on the indie jangle-pop scene with their 2008 EP, "God Left Town". The band is true to its name - composed of three brothers, one cousin, and one friend, all of whom are strumming out some of the most harmonious acoustic pop this side of The Traveling Wilburys.

This country pop party kicks off with what has become my favorite track, the title track. Bright and breezy, shining with harmonica, harmonies, and banjo, "Tell It To The Sun" taps into every positive quality that alt country pop has to offer. I am hard pressed to think of a more appropriate song for a lazy sunny Sunday. The guys keep slinging the hooks and harmonies one after another, as if they're in endless supply. While I find myself gravitating more to the upbeat numbers like "Is There Anyone There" and "Weight Around My Heart", there are several easy-going ballads here if you're in the mood for something slow and tranquil. A highlight of the latter is the Beatle-esque ""Up For Air". "Tread Carefully" is another standout that starts subtly (carefully), then builds ever so gently into a flowering climax.

With just the right amount of country flair adorning their melodious harmonies, the Calico Brothers should appeal to fans of The Jayhawks, The Thorns, and Grapes of Wrath. No need to "tread carefully" when debating on whether to purchase this one!

Bills Music Forum

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Calico Brothers - Tell It To The Sun (2009; autoprodotto). E' tornata la combriccola dei Calicos, che gioia! Uno dei nostri gruppi Neozelandesi preferiti del momento ha messo insieme l'album lungo che tanto speravamo uscisse, e neanche ci hanno fatto attendere troppo, visto che il loro strepitoso ep d'esordio è vecchio di nemmeno dodici mesi. I più attenti tra di voi ricorderanno quanto qui ad UTTT abbiamo adorato quel dischetto, che lo scorso anno ha finito la sua corsa al numero 3 nella classifica di categoria. Diciamo subito che Tell It To The Sun non solo propone la stessa strabiliante capacità di spacciare melodie e grandi canzoni, ma certifica un'ulteriore solidità che la band ha saputo raggiungere a livello squisitamente compositivo. Il tutto è sempre giocato sull'asse Petty-Harrison-Lynne ma il clima generale, rispetto all'ep d'esordio, sembra essere ancora più indirizzato verso la componente folk e americana del loro linguaggio. In ogni caso, è un discone senza pecche e pure ricco di svariati spunti clamorosi. Non sto esagerando, giuro. Perchè per i nostri gusti e per le nostre passioni non possiamo rimanere indifferenti davanti all'americana perfetta della title-track, o della sgargiante grazia folk di Always Say I'd Do. E, ancora, ci beiamo della straziante e bellissima estasi acustica di Up For Air. Senza contare che i fratelli Calico, quando di tanto in tanto decidono di dare gas al loro motore pop, sono capaci di piazzare colpi da KO come Weight Around My Heart, roba che già su Woodface avrebbe fatto un figurone, mentre su Time On Heart avrebbe fatto impallidire il 90% dei brani scritti da Neil Finn.

Under the Tangerine Tree

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These "brothers" from Auckland got a nice notice at Elsewhere for their debut EP God Left Town noting however that they seemed an amusing sum of influences such as the Traveling Wilburys (with Lennon not Orbison in the line-up), strum'n'sing Tom Petty and so on.
Here those influences are slightly tempered -- although in the case of Is There Anyone There? they've borrowed so heavily from Crowded House's balladry you might find yourself checking the writing credit. (Although I doubt Neil Finn would namecheck alt.rock power pop outfit Redd Kross.)
It is very hard to dislike a band that is as melody-conscious as the alt.country folk-pop Calico Brothers, but you aren't going to throw accusations of originality at some of these songs, lovely though they may be.
That said, they the do push themselves beyond the musical reference points from that EP: Up for Air may be a bit too Lennonesque for comfort but it stands on its own merits, as does the moody-then-menacing Always Said I'd Do which is the most interesting song here alongside the extended closer Could Not Be More Wrong which really does suggest a highly profitable country-rock direction (like a Lennonesque-country flavoured Neil Halstead/Slowdive).
The title track is a winner and the country pop of Got To Get on Getting Over You is quietly convincing. The brief Lost on the Motorway is the sleeper.
The Calico Brothers may not care to go past the style they have adopted and they sure do it well, but where that debut was interesting as a starting point you'd have hoped more of this might have seen them stretch themselves.
Gotta say though, they are much more interesting lyric writers than the Wilburys (Dylan's Tweeter excepted) and recent Tom Petty. And for that we thank them.
A grower.

Elsewhere by Graham Reid

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