Playing out like the Jesus and Mary Chain on quaaludes, Calla's third full-length release is a dissonant, hypnotic masterpiece. On first listen, parts of Televise may strike you as being largely background fodder, but repeated listens reveal that the rolling melodies, squeals of dissonance, and Aurelio Valle's lazy, almost spoken vocals have burrowed their way deep into your subconscious.
This is music that speaks to the id, paranoia, modern isolation, and latent desire in an entirely different way than Radiohead's more recent work, but it's every bit as effective. Guitars chime and echo in a seemingly endless space buoyed up with rolling bass lines, sparse drum work, and subtle touches of programming.
Though the late '80s/early '90s shoegazer influence is fairly obvious, Calla -- much like Interpol, whom they've toured with -- manage the difficult feat of transcending their sources, giving them a nod while creating something purely and truly their own out of a familiar mix of ingredients.
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