Insight & Critique
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact

Team Callahan - Afterglow

10/29/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Team Callahan

​Afterglow
self-released; 2015

4.3 out of 5 - TOP ALBUM

By Jamie Robash

The French film director Jean Renoir once said, “The only things that are important in life are the things you remember.” Spoken to the average person who would only grasp the mere surface of this quote, the response elicited would likely be, “No shit.” But no matter how cynical or vulgar this response would sound to those who have a somewhat deeper sense of their lives, it would be for most a rather apt response. But to others, like Team Callahan, the moniker of the Denver by way of St. Petersburg (Florida not Russia) husband and wife duo Nick and Kathleen Arnal, Renoir’s quote is akin to the themes the pair share on the thirteen songs of their effulgent first album Afterglow.

Many of the themes tackled are familiar ones; those old post college blues, the times when the fun is over, the money’s been spent and now you need to start thinking about how to pay it all back. But Afterglow also deals with more important issues like human emotions and personal struggles.  

Team Callahan come out swinging on “Point Doom,” a sly surf rock imbued melody born upon waves of innuendos, as Kathleen Arnal imparts the first of her many witticisms with “It seemed like centuries ago / When the monks crossed the mountain tombs / Malibu, El Camino / and a sipping tea lemonade room.” As funny as this is, things take a darker turn later on when Arnal laments, “That west coast tried to drag me down / Inside my cold and crazy head / Can’t get no sleep in LA / Gotta get back to my own bed.”

The fear of growing older, of having to leave the good times behind, surfaces from beneath the hand claps and Ramones riff on “Weekend Hot shot” where Arnal croons, “Weekends are fun when your young / and it feels like the whole world’s on your side / But we will get older, the good times much slower / and one day we will die.” Not sad enough for you? How about the heartsick alt country ballad “Mammoth Cave” intoned with the lines “I wanted to marry my best friends / But they didn’t wanna marry me.” Arnal then turns inward to narrate the nostalgia laden “Winter after Graduation,” an angst ridden tune, on which she reflects on her life so far while also trying to figure out her future.
​
I could keep rambling about the little details I found in each song and why I liked Afterglow so much, but I won’t. There’s not a bad song on the record. Credit also goes to the recording process. Speaking as a man who’s heard enough home recordings to last him several lifetimes, I was very impressed by the sound of Afterglow. It was recorded in the couple’s apartment, along with a little help from their friends Jackson Davis, and Shaundra and Brandon McGuire who helped out on added instrumentation and backing vocals. It was bare bones operation recording with a few mics, and a compressor and then mixing it down in Cubase. Go team. Go.
official website

bandcamp
Tweet
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

       Critique/insight

    We are dedicated to informing the public about the different types of independent  music that is available for your listening pleasure as well as giving the artist a professional critique from a seasoned music geek. We critique a wide variety of niche genres like experimental, IDM, electronic, ambient, shoegaze and much more.

    Tweets by divideanconqer
    Are you one of our faithful visitors who enjoys our website? Like us on Facebook


    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

Company

About
Contributors

Newsletter

Newsletter
Book Your Band

© Divide and Conquer 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact