The Callas With Lee Renaldo release their Trouble And Desire LP tomorrow via Inner Ear Records/Dirty Water Records. Below, you can stream the entire album a day ahead of its’ release…
The Callas is an art collective led by the Greek brothers Lakis and Aris Ionas. As well as producing music, the brothers run the Athens-based gallery/studio space Velvet Room, while also creating visual art, films, magazines, events, and art shows. The Callas first hooked up with Lee Renaldo (Sonic Youth) after collaborating with him on the soundtrack for their feature film, The Great Eastern. Describing this experience together, the guitarist said that it was a “natural fit,” before adding, “we speak the same language.” Deciding to continue their efforts, Renaldo returned to Greece to work on The Callas newest album, Trouble and Desire.
The album finds Renaldo joined by Aris on guitar/vocals, Lakis on bass/vocals, as well as Chrysanthi Tsoukala on drums/vocals, and Marilena Petridou on percussion. Combining elements of Kraut-leaning psych music, like motorik rhythms and mantric melodies, with plenty of punk attitude and energy, the group’s 14-track LP is a tightly conceived affair. With “trouble and desire” as a two-headed conceptual monster, the album seems to imagine it as a multi-tentacled beast. Organized around a numbered series of “Octopus” interludes that combine spoken word with simmering atmosphere, these tracks often act as a mysterious introduction to the album’s more fleshed out numbers.
For instance, a droning sense of doom forms the backdrop to “Octopus No. 6,” before Chrysanthi Tsoukala asks, “Do you sleep at night?” Without anyone to reply to what was probably a rhetorical question anyway, she wryly offers, “No?;” before wondering, “Is it done.” It’s a perfect kickoff to the maelstrom that is “Acid Books.” Building anthemic intensity through concise musical phrasing, the band’s minimalist approach has an essentializing effect that only adds to its’ power. Seemingly delivered like a hex against forces that seek to control, the group bristles with a vehement cry for resistance.
Similarly, Tsoukala muses about a “silent error” on “Octopus No. 2,” before the band launches into the hypnotic dirge, “???????.” Sung in Greek, the track once again stands out on the strength of its’ direct approach with driving tribal rhythms and mantric vocals echoed by guitar and bass. Following this trajectory, the album’s title cut is preceded by “Octopus No. 3.” Here, amidst ominous, ear sharpening tones, a pair of male and female voices repeat the phrase: “trouble and desire,” until the actual track comes barrelling out the gate with the needle in the red. Under the influence of a heavy dose of adrenaline, and channeling some serious Grunge-era alt-rock, the band’s urgent and agitated sound is immediate and infectious.
Combining this more punk driven tact with the Kraut inspired direction of tracks like “???????,” “????,” or “?????? ??? ??????,” Trouble And Desire taps the ancient function of music to enact psychic change thru the power of sound. Utilizing primal rhythms and mantric repetition, The Callas With Lee Renaldo zero in on that place where contemporary music still has the ability to deliver what was once its’ ritualized function. Much like the Greek dramas of the distant past, the collective uses their sound currents to generate a sense of catharsis and release. Still eminently modern in its’ styling, even while harkening back to a time when music held mysterious keys to unlocking the deeper realms of consciousness, Trouble And Desire is a transformative experience.
