Calnin’s performance was in celebration of his debut EP, City, which explores his transition from his hometown to city life, away from family and discovering new territory. Let’s just say this has been a smart move for Calnin, as evidenced by his sold-out show at The Workers Club.
Warming up the crowd was Tom Milek, with his raw vocals and acoustic tunes, including ‘Be There’. The track focuses on a soft guitar melody and strong lyrics, “If you needed me I’d be there/if you needed me whenever.” Milek also added depth into his songs with harmonica, stating he’d brought sixty dollars worth of harmonicas and practiced all weekend.
Lowlakes followed suit in a remarkable showing, Thomas Snowdon’s echoed, hypnotising voice oozed throughout the room, most notably during ‘Catch The Breeze’.
‘Buffalo’ was also a standout, with a slow paced melody that has a mesmerising resonance. The band also played a new track, with draft name ‘Flying Pigs’, showing off their instrumental compositions, with high pitched keys and guitar.
Hayden Calnin progressed the night of folk-indie magic. Calnin describes his sound as, ‘progressive folk with electronica’, which is hard to imagine until you see it in action. He very cleverly self-records and produces tracks with the help of a loop pedal and laptop, which translates to an interesting performance on stage.
His husky, yet strong voice led the set, starting off with ‘It Scares You’, as he impressively layers sound over sound – keys, guitar, backing vocals and main vocals to create his tunes completely live on stage.
‘Summer’ is a grand example of this – combining various vocals to create the melody and accompanying parts, which form a round throughout the song.
Although the tracks have a soft, mellow feel, each has a number of components. These meld together, composing just the right amount of sound, making them not too busy but also keeping them interesting. The listener can’t guess where Calnin will take the tune next.
For part of the set Calnin was assisted by three others – Sleep Decade’s Casey Hartnett, Spell House’s Rhys Grunden, and Milek, kicking it off with ‘For My Help’, creating a choir style opener with each of their vocals adding a level of peaceful sound.
The band’s skills only accentuates Calnin’s talent. His falsetto tones are what can be described as hauntingly beautiful and leave you wanting to hear more.
Back to being solo, Calnin played the title track ‘City’, an experiment with electronic sounds, changing the tone of his voice for certain vocals.
He uses some technical issues to his advantage, swapping acoustic guitar for keys, creating a more a capella style version of the tune ‘Kensington’. This worked in his favour, bringing an imaginative and emotive atmosphere to the song, due to the silent pauses between different key tones.
Pretty much pass Calnin an instrument and together with his remarkable voice it always works.
After a few shout outs of “I love you Hayden”, and “You’re so awesome, you don’t even know it!”, Calnin wrapped up the set with some older tracks, showcasing songs the amassed fans may not have heard, with ‘Dinosaur Stampede’ and ‘Chased By Horses’.
While the songs detail components of folk and electronic music, it’s also evident they’re telling a cryptic story. Lyrics such as, “walking upwards, looking backwards/climbing fences, chased by horses,” keep listeners engaged.
Calnin is not only musically talented with simple and raw sounds, he also takes his creativity to another level through production. He is more than a solo artist; he’s a one-man folk piece with a unique spin.
– Cass Savellis
