Monolith Cocktail Blog

SINGLE REVEAL – DOMINIC VALVONA

Elea Calvet ‘Sinuous Ways’
(Hyssop & Victoria Records)

With an intelligence and subtlety sadly lacking in much music these days, the Bristol-based (born in Canada and brought up for a time in India) worldly artist Elea Calvet reflects the sinuous of her latest single with a winding, pondered and almost sighed adroit wistfulness. A still piano, bowed and softly thumping bass with tremolo quivers and delightful wisp of melodious beauty, the duality of the human soul is laid bare to a most accentuated backing and feely atmosphere. There’s a real clever alchemy of lyricism, and a balance struck between the sorrowful and beautifully drifting, the bluesy and folksy, classical and wispy. Torment reigns all right, but the near haunting float-y but always present voice and music is as alluring as it is clever and deep: and again, that duality, somehow wafting along almost effortlessly.

A burgeoning star until a hiatus, Elea Calvet has been constantly compared to such idiosyncratic stars as Anna Calvi – and for good reason. But she reminded me of Raf Mantelli, a touch of our very own one-time collaborator and fellow Canadian, Gillian Stone, Amanda Acevado, and a more disarming Diamanda Galas. Songwriting and orchestration wise, I swear I’m hearing a touch of Bowie too!

This is vulnerability and strength heading in an intriguing, interesting and artful direction. I look forward to hearing more, with a full EP in March.