CAMBRIDGE CALLING 4 - local album of music delights
Luke James Williams ‘Still in Bed’
You may already know that Cambridge is awash with great with musical talent unsung…except thanks to local DJ it is well and truly sung. ‘Cambridge Calling’ is the fourth in a series of albums curated by Dave Hammond who presents a fortnightly radio show on Cambridge 105.
‘Cambridge Calling 4’ is a wonderfully eclectic album of local tunesmiths – 57 minutes of pleasure. Indie music has somehow passed by this septuagenarian dinosaur but it has come as a revelation. Each of the tracks is highly distinctive, fascinating in texture and melodic invention. Take for instance ‘The Old Man’ by Karalinga, a dreamy ballad enriched by cool sax riffs and laid back vocals with a decidedly late 60s haze. ‘Egypt’ is another intriguing piece with an ethereal brassy layer over weeping guitar and strong baritone vocal. Many of the offerings have intriguing titles such as ‘It’s Snowing in Hell’ (a jaunty ditty with echoes of Jagger) and ‘Sleeper in the Valley’ with its slinky French lyrics and haunting brass or ‘Intermission’ with its score reminiscent of a Sergio Leone western.
Meanwhile Pink Lemonade’s ‘Space Girl’ is full of joyful buzz infused with interstellar references – maybe it should be labelled ‘astro pop’. It is real earworm stuff and I challenge you not to be cheered up by its innocent celebration of youthful dreams. ‘Still in Bed’ by Luke James Williams changes the mood to mellow introspection; a simple but fetching melody, a confessional around love lost, painful regret about things said: a ‘Yesterday’ for today. I loved it especially when at the height of emotion, a tinkly piano suddenly breaks through to ramp up the bittersweet memory of a break up. ‘Nyack’ with its folkie gentleness by Annie Dressner (as seen on our main page image) who has had airplay on BBC Radios 2 and 6, is insidiously catchy with its ‘nothing is gonna tear us apart’ motto; if you want something a touch heavier take ‘Dying Universe’ by the metallicish band Future Now.
Intrigued by the whole concept behind Cam Calling 4, I caught up with Hammond who told me, ‘The idea of a charity release was first talked about in 2016 when a local Cambridge based musician suggested ways of thanking me for the support I’d given to his band, Sound Menagerie.’ By 2017, Dave had been in touch with 30 or so local artists all willing to contribute a track each. A Salford based label that Dave also supported on his show, German Shepherd Records, offered to release and market the compilation and agreed to all proceeds going to charity.
Fast forward to late 2019 and the same team released Volume 4 - another 19 tracks, with none of the bands having featured on the previous three compilations. As with all the other compilations, the artists who contribute the tracks are asked to nominate their preferred charity and the most popular is chosen as the recipient of any funds raised. To date almost 80 artists have contributed, something which shows the rude health of an ever evolving local music scene. Better still, several local charities have had much needed funds raised for their cause.
Enjoying this album is no act of charity – it is an astonishing open door into a rich world of local musicmaking – a brave new world, aye one that is new to me.
Dave Hammond’s show: ‘The Smelly Flowerpot Show” is on Cambridge 105:
The Cambridge albums:
https://germanshepherdrecords.com/artists/cambridge-calling-2/
