Piece-dye is an experimental album released on the third of June, and put together by Cal Folger Day, and producer Phil Christie. Described as an “avant-pop journey through the lens of the documentarian’s attention to detail”, Cal is telling us the story of Irene Nally of Sligo – a distant aunt and Irish immigrant.
The originality and complexity of this album come from its imperfection. We notice how Irene stutters and gets lost as she narrates her story. The lyrics are “verbatim quotes from an interview Cal had with her aunt, a chronicle in which she talks about her experience when arriving in New York in the post-war boom and explores the unique set of intricacies, contradictions, and ground-level observations of navigating the cultural climate of New York City”.
My favourite pieces of this album are ‘Act 1’ and ‘Act 2’. In ‘Act 1’, Irene shares how she blended in the New York labour: “But it didn’t matter because in the ‘50s large companies really trained their employees/ To whatever they wanted/ So you know I blended”.
The album explores different genres, but most of it is experimental. However, I could notice a hint of punk, jazz, and country.
Along with Cal, other talented artists contributed to this experimental journey which turned out to be a unique experience. I pretty much perceived this album as Cal’s original way of encapsulating an entire life in a 27-minute album.
Piece-dye is out now on CD and digital download – order via Bandcamp.
FInd out more on Cal Folger Day’s official website
Review by Lorena Cristea
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