by Conor Lochrie (@conornoconnor)
There aren’t many more famous examples of posthumous musical success than Arthur Russell. When he passed away from an AIDS-related illness in 1992, he was still relatively unknown as an artist; it was only through reissues and new compilations that his star reached the level that his talent deserved. The generation that grew up with Russell’s raised profile has seen many imitators and followers and Cal Fish is, by his own accounts, one of them.
While making their new album Plastic Flag while traveling around Europe in 2017, they spent a lot of time listening to the 2004 Russell compilation Calling Out of Context, and a similar experimental spirit is alive in their record. Cal gathered loops from cassettes found on the streets and fused them with beats made on their computer to form this eccentric collection.
The production is never overbearing or simplistic. On tracks like ‘Get Back’ and ‘Feather,’ the vocal layers and beats are scrambled, possessed of a frenetic but compact chaos. Heavier clattering beats dominate ‘Checking in on a Friend,’ while woozily distorted vocals flood ‘New Loop’. The strange and exotic natural sounds on ‘Kontiki’ are reminiscent of Russell’s Indian classical music leanings. An ambient drone gives way to a melancholic rock rhythm on ‘No List,’ Lucia Arias adding some welcome tenderness in backing vocals. Cal’s vocals are durable and flexible, capable of stretching into the sky on ‘Feather’ or recalling the Nu-Rave era on ‘Flutez Kafkaa’.
There is a gentle philosophy evident on Plastic Flag. Cal is clearly eco-conscious, discussing it several times on the record. “Kids who love the earth / Know it should come first,” they cry despondently on ‘Kids Who Love the Earth,’ before ruefully noting “It could be worse but it’s getting worse”; ‘Too Many Cars’ laments the sentiment from the title, Cal’s position on our clogging of the environment clear. “Think about it all the time / What lies upstream / A chemical valley / It’s much worse than you think,” they bemoan on ‘Rivers in my Mind’.
‘Kids whom Luv the Beat’ ends the record on a light note, flowery and sun-kissed chillwave production being a befitting close for an artist who values hope and positivity above all else. Now living and working in Brooklyn, there is the distinct impression that Cal makes art for themself foremostly; quite right too. This earnest and impactful record of sonic exploration and eco-consciousness though, it should be hoped, doesn’t take as long to find a wider audience as the great Russell’s work did.