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As seen in issue 41 of Closer Magazine, published on 2006-05-20 in the "NationalMusic" section.
Baby Calendar
Clever Twee Pop That Snaps and Crackles on their way to musical adulthood Baby Calendar gains copious fans
By: Natalia Real
With influences ranging from punk to Billy Joel and Weezer and indie rock roots in the local scene, the members of Baby Calendar have taken an adventurous leap that has landed them in twee pop territory. The trio is Jackie Biver (vocals/bass/keys), Arik Dayan (drums) and Tom Gorrio (vocals/guitar), and they are due to tour the country for the second time—and with a new release in hand — this summer. Enthusiastic, pepped up and ready to go, these 20-somethings are fun, silly and ridiculously artistic. They live wholeheartedly by the DIY philosophy, doing all the dirty work themselves — Biver is their manager — and all the while glowing with both modesty and vibrant talent. “We sit there and make all the CDs and merchandise ourselves; we book our own tours,” she says. “It gives us a lot of control.”
Zombie fans Biver (Para), Dayan (Lassothemoon) — “He’s the studmuffin of the group,” tells Biver — and Gorrio (No Stars Here, Lassothemoon, Objects in Transit) are bright, optimistic and persevering. They sing and play in lustrous colors, sometimes dipping into a pond of aural sparkles or shiny bubbles for a splash of extra pep. Ideas of butterflies, determination and hanging out are thrown about. The lyrics are kind of like Hemingway’s prose: deceivingly simple and true, there for one to read — or listen to — between them.
Biver sings softly but assertively and beautifully; it’s a sweet and energetically enchanting voice that’s glorious when pushed to its limits (which, alas, happened more in the days of Para). When given the chance to glide alongside Gorrio’s quasi-whiny vocals, what results is a combination that exudes charming innocence and playfulness. It makes me want to wear pink Hi Tops and eat a vanilla ice cream cone draped in rainbow sprinkles.
Biver and Gorrio met “around the same time Lassothemoon and Pare broke up,” says Biver. “Around that time, Tom and I started hanging out more, started dating and started jamming together. He wrote ‘Green Tea’ and‘Modulatura.’ We’d do it for fun, go to open mic night with a keyboard. We liked it a lot, so we started writing; we ended up writing an album.... But it was kind of boring without a drummer, and Arik wasn’t doing anything he was happy with,” she recalls. “We’re like family [now]. We’re easy-going, happy people … A three-person band works well, so I learned bass.”
Their first release, the EP Your Move released in 2004, contains songs composed with an acoustic guitar, a keyboard and a tambourine and was recorded in Gorrio’s bedroom. Their latest is the LP Fifteen Year Old Sneakers, released last year and recorded after Dayan joined the band. This album is comprised of two re-recorded songs from Your Move plus several new ones, including a relatively somber piano track, the closing“Mobile Command Unit.” This is mostly organic — even wholesome — music.
“Welcome to our world / Take off your shoes / It’s so delightful here / What do you have to lose?” sing Biver and Gorrio in “Within Cell Walls,” a track originally off Your Move. “Tom and I recorded it acoustic with keyboard and tambourine for the first album; it was one of the first songs we ever wrote. We started playing it at shows with Arik and loved how it sounded with drums so we re-recorded it with drums, bass and electric guitar [for Fifteen Year Old Sneakers],” tells Biver. “We love that song.” The later version gains a deeper texture with the added drums and electric guitar and its occasional, discrete distortion. Whereas the original version might have been appropriate for a performance at a coffee house, the updated version would enliven an entire venue.
Same thing with “Green Tea.” Now, this song really makes me feel cozy and warm wherever I am; I want to sit down with friends and have a cup: “Just to the left of the stove, she said / You will find your cup with a spoon on the side / No, I don’t have any honey / But you’re more than welcome to use the sugar.”
Fun and abrupt “Laboratories” tricks the listener with its unpredictable changes in tempo and style. “[We like] ‘Laboratories’ because it has kind of a hip-hoppy feel and good vocal melodies we like to sing a lot,” Biver imparts. Baby Calendar tops off their compilation of crisp, cleverly crafted songs with a cover of “I Hate Meeces to Pieces,” originally by their friends Objects in Transit.
“We’re making the transition to drums and learning and growing. We’re now recording the new album [Gingerbread Dog] to come out in May. [In it] we talk a lot about our experiences. It’s very personal but universal too,” Biver relates. This release was recorded with the help of Gorrio’s brother Renzo (of Objects in Transit), who is experienced in sound recording.“We're going to record our next album at Miami-Dade College,” she says. The person who will help them this time around “has recorded so many great South Florida releases, as far back as the 1999 Aghora U.S. debut. He knows the bands he works with so he really gets a feel for what the band wants,” she explains.
This summer Baby Calendar will take to the road with Gingerbread Dog, driving up and down all over the States, and revisiting some of their favorite spots, such as Wichita, Kan. and LA. Although, “It’s the people who are there, not the place — a crowd that’s having fun, even if it’s five people,” Biver exclaims.
At shows, they don’t take over the stage, they join it in collaboration, in harmony, dressed in mellow colors and demeanors, smiles and almost saccharine naïveté. They are goofy and animated, almost like little kids. “We don’t do a lot of warming up. We say we’re gonna rock. We jump around a bit and get excited. And that’s it. Sometimes Tom and I warm up our vocals,” Biver states. “We’re not gonna stop playing until everyone’s skulls are shattered and everyone else is playing on the ashes of the shattered skulls.”
They act as though everything will be all right. And as long as they’re onstage, it is.
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