Callaghan returns with 'A History of Now'
Passionate and peppy songs waiting for the right sitcom
Georgina Callaghan’s story of leaving her family, friends, and UK home behind to work with one of her biggest influence, Atlanta’s Shawn Mullins, is the kind of scrappy, provocative anecdote that makes for great press releases.
But that was back in 2010, ancient history at this point. Multiple stateside tours since found her traveling over 50,000 miles per year and playing in 46 states running the gamut from living room concerts to the high profile singer/songwriter Cayamo cruise. Callaghan may not be a household name, yet, but she has worked long and hard slinging out the honeyed, savory folk/pop blend found on her Mullins-produced 2012 debut, Life in Full Colour, to anyone who would listen. Few reviewers can make it through an article about her music without falling back on the adjective “sweet.” And for good reason. Callaghan boasts the kind of trilling, controlled voice that any female roots singer would envy. It’s malleable enough to crawl inside a weepy, introspective tear jerker and is just as impressive on the giddy, chirpy, perky tunes guaranteed to make even the most jaded pop fan grin. It’s the latter that leads off her sophomore album. “Crazy Beautiful Life” is a bouncy, immediately hummable gem that instantly feels familiar even on the first spin.
Similarly, the sprightly “Best Year,” reprised from her debut, is the best tune Susannah Hoffs never recorded and a cinch to be the theme of some laugh track enhanced Friends/Mindy Project/New Girl-type sitcom. Those are two of five upbeat selections from album number two, A History of Now, that paint Callaghan, somewhat misleadingly, with a sunshine and rainbows persona.
While that’s an aspect of her personality, don’t get the misconception that the gumdrops and lollipops are going to drown you in a sugar rush. When Callaghan changes up to dig into “I’ll Take You Away,” a lovely, lavish, poignant ballad that soars both lyrically and especially musically, she shows how that voice can be just as effective on the melancholy material that gives her, and this album, real depth. It starts with skeletal piano and builds into a full blown love song that displays Callaghan’s honesty and ambitious ability to balance drama with sensitivity. Ditto for “Lost” the disc’s physical and philosophical centerpiece; a dynamic, widescreen epic beautifully produced with sumptuous strings that sounds like a magnificent lost Sarah McLachlan track. It proves Callaghan has plenty of diva in her and the chops to belt out a hook heavy melody with warmth, passion and power.
While the finger snapping, somewhat schlocky likes of “Free to Be” might be the trigger that gets Callaghan’s music onto a hit TV show featuring a cheerful ensemble cast of young, hip, white 20-somethings, it’s the darker, more expressive material that grounds this set and has the emotional teeth to bring you back for more.
★★★☆☆