Caleb Nichols - Clarion (2021) Hi-Res

Singer-songwriter and poet Caleb Nichols has been in a billion bands. OK, maybe not a billion, but his fair share. Since 2005, Caleb's played guitar, bass, and sang in bands as disparate as DIY folk-punks the Bloody Heads, mid-2000's Pitchfork darlings Port O'Brien, and Rogue Wave side project Release the Sunbird, not to mention his own projects, Grand Lake, CHURCHES and Soft People.

These days, Caleb is just Caleb. He's been busy writing songs and poems at home in San Luis Obispo, CA, spending time with his dog Millie, and floating in the ocean.

Caleb has this to say about his Kill Rock Stars debut:

"I recorded this EP at New, Improved Recording in Oakland, CA, a city which I used to live in many years ago, with friends who I've worked with for as many years. So in a lot of ways "Clarion" is a return of sorts: a return to a certain style of playing and writing, a return to a certain simplicity (play guitar, point microphone at guitar, sing) and a return to making music outside of the context of my own bedroom. It also marked a return to the world, as this was really one of the first trips I'd made away from home since the pandemic began. How surreal to remember that other places exist after nearly two years of being confined to a few spaces in my own town. "Clarion" then makes sense, lyrically, in this context. All alone/ you wait/ for silence. The lyrics to the song, which I sort of wrote about a poet friend of mine, are probably more of a projection about me and my experience than an examination of another subject. I guess the point might be about solitude and the clear, truthful ring of silences. "He'll Love You Better" which is the other stand-out track also comes from that place of silence and contemplation but is more about the experience of uncertainty and anxiety, particularly in the context of relationships. What if I'm not good enough for love? I guess we all feel that way sometimes - like we don't deserve love. But we do, and this song is my attempt to write through those feelings; to be vulnerable and admit that I feel this way sometimes, and maybe even for no good reason."