Every day in December, the dog blog is featuring our favourite songs of 2010, sort of an Advent calendar for your ears. First up is “Arrow” by Kathryn Calder, a name that’s nowhere near as familiar as it should be.
Kathryn Calder has been too busy this year touring as a member of the New Pornographers to properly promote Are You My Mother?, her absolutely wonderful 2010 solo debut. Hopefully this will be remedied in 2011. “Arrow” is the second single from the album, following “Slip Away“. Calder recorded the album in her childhood home as she cared for her terminally-ill mother, and this song (as well as the video) seem quite informed by that experience. When I reviewed the album in a July issue of prairie dog, I compared it to Paul Simon at his best, and “Arrow” is a great example of that concise, powerful lyricism and strong pop sensibility that combine for great emotional resonance.
mp3: “Arrow” by Kathryn Calder
UPDATE: If you enjoyed that, you will also enjoy this newly released series of videos of Calder performing for the web series Available Light. Here she is doing “Arrow”:
Available Light #005 – Kathryn Calder – Arrow from Obsolete Films on Vimeo.
