California Wives

The beginning of a year brings hope. And with that, we look everywhere for new sounds, some that could point us in the direction we want to go, most of them though, at least when you come to realize that your days of youth are pretty much gone, lead you to sounds that are familiar, those that remind you of back then, when you were young, when there was no gray-haired wisdom hidden in your brain.

I thought that was a good description of what I felt recently after stumbling into California Wives, a Chicago synth pop quartet led by Jayson Kramer (vocals, keys, guitar), along with Dan Zima (vocals, bass, guitar), Joe O'Connor (drums) and Hans Michel (guitar, keys). Formed in 2009, their music is if anything uplifting, and their sounds make you think of big guys like Joy DIvision and Pulp. Their EP 'Affair' is full of dark though happy, solemn though refreshing tunes.

The band showed up at Daytrotter this week on January 11. As always their post is clever, describing "Twenty Three" as a song that invites us to "have a drink and say our goodbyes for the last time". They elaborate further to say that the song gives you the "feeling that we're never going to be or see the person we are right now, ever again".

Although scary, this band's music is just like that. And "Twenty Three", just like its video, is fresh but completely in tune with old imaginery that make you believe the song is timeless, or perhaps that you have heard it before without really knowing when or where.

Daytrotter's post is entitled "The Final Run Of Younger Days", something that also sounds scary to people like me. Those of us that realize that " the youthful days are just starting to become our old man or old woman days".

Below, I leave you a vid from "Twenty Three" and a link to their Daytrotter session with 3 free downloads.

Enjoy,

MM


California Wives-Dayrotter Session