Everyone’s got a couple loose screws: What’s life without a little zest? The world is a better place when we’re relaxed – when we allow the walls to fall so we can be our true, unfiltered selves. Cale and the Gravity Well’s “Contessa” is a natural, free-flowing burst of joyful indie rock basking in the moment.
Contessa
Count it blessed
Yeah for the best
That all your screws came loose
Oh what’s the use
Now you could buy a township
Paint it shades of blue
“Contessa” – Cale and the Gravity Well
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/337096847?secret_token=s-6KhHp” params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Contessa,” the second single off Cale and the Gravity Well’s upcoming EP Creation Myths (anticipated 11/17/2017 via Made In The Shade Records). The Brooklyn-based indie rock band led by songwriter Cale Bonderman, Cale and the Gravity Well’s edgy bounce and melodic drive are reminiscent of such contemporary acts as Young the Giant and Foals. Working with producer Jim Fairchild (formerly Modest Mouse) and engineer Mike Cresswell (Sun Kill Moon, ALO), Cale and the Gravity Well have managed to capture the magical dusk between light and dark: “Contessa” offers a piece of that lighter side with a delightful slice of warm, no-strings-attached emotion.
Distress ah
You were part of
At the start of
Inky new perfume
Oh how can you choose
On one side only soul ache
The other side abuse
Impress ah
Everybody falls
And everybody stalls
And everybody fades away
So don’t stay in place
It may be a hard night’s bawlin’
Is just a step away from grace
“I wrote Contessa in an afternoon, having been up until that point in something of a creative rut,” explains Cale Bonderman. “Everything I was playing felt like something I’d played before. And I’d been listening to a lot of folksy artists at that point, people like Boy & Bear and First Aid Kit, and a lot of those types of songs are dead simple, but contain this mesmerizing quality that I was really trying to understand. So I thought, well, just write something simple, and I built out the core ideas of the song in like six hours, and surprise surprise, I really liked it. Similarly, I didn’t want to stress so much over the lyrics. This wasn’t [a] place, I felt, for deep messages and insights into the various ills plaguing society’s structures, institutions or individuals, but was probably going to work as a gentle reminder that, well, everybody has a few loose screws, and you can live with that.”
Bonderman may be pleasantly surprised to know that “Contessa” does ring with a powerful truth, whether or not he intended it. Life is too precious to be squandered over minutiae; one’s time is better spent enjoying today than worrying about tomorrow. “Contessa” is a testament to that universal desire to find balance between now and later: No matter what life throws our way, we know we’ll be okay.
Enjoy Cale and the Gravity Well’s latest single, exclusively on Atwood Magazine!
— — — —
Connect to Cale and the Gravity Well:
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
photo © Shervin Lainez
