Call and Response

Call and Response is a musical ensemble hailing from the Bay Area in California. The music the members compose is filled with rhythm, harmony, and warmth. Elements of classic pop, spacey jazz, film soundtracks, folk and soul music are only some of the musical inspirations drawn upon by the group.

Call and Response formed in 1998 when Simone Rubi (keyboards, vocals) and Daniel Judd (guitar), who shared a love of obscure pop music, film soundtracks, and synthesizers, decided to collaborate on a musical project in their hometown of Santa Barbara. They began writing songs and soon Simone asked one of her oldest friends, Carrie Clough (vocals), to lend her harmonic skills to the group. A year later they relocated to Oakland where they met Terri Loewenthal (bass, vocals). Terri, a Florida native, impressed them with her fluid bass playing and ability to harmonize vocally. In need of percussion, they chanced upon Jordan Dalrymple (drums) an accomplished musician from San Diego, living in Berkeley. The five immediately became close friends and a productive song writing team, each lending their individual talents and insights in a uniquely democratic fashion.

Call and Response finished recording a new album with Dylan Magierek (Mark Kozelek, Low, Erlend Oye) in January 2004. With this record, the band innovates a sound that is impressionistic, mystical, and beautiful. The 10 song album entitled Winds take no shape, will be released in June on Badman Recording Co., who have released albums by Mark Kozelek, Rebecca Gates, My Morning Jacket, and other talented artists.

Erlend Oye of Kings of Convenience said (comparing the debut album to their new one): "If you went to the beach with your best friends, and then it got a little windy outside and slightly dark, so you pack up into the car and head home. on the way it gets even windier and you roll up the windows and no one is talking. The car is totally silent."

NPR said of their debut: "The album gently draws folk and funk into the same ring, locking into effortless addictive groves that prop up delicate male/female harmonies."

4 Stars (out of 5)
"Drifting in like a San Francisco fog, Call and Response’s second album is a magnificent surprise. If their 2001 debut confected a Free Designed, bubblefunk California of the imagination, ‘Winds take no shape’ cruises into more crepuscular territories. They’re a band of rare harmonies. The players and, most vividly, the cirric voices of Carrie Clough and Simone Rubi, attain a lunar twilight grace across complex structures. Songs conjure weird confluences: you might tease out strands of tropicalian Bossa Nova, Laurel Canyon folk, Vini Reilly riverbed, reverbed languor and even Broadcast’s spooked tenderness. You could praise individual moments (‘Trapped under ice’ is a bittersweet frostflower that blooms into radiance) but it’s the overall weave, the daydreamy drift, that impresses. This is a forty-minute swoon of a record: dive into it.” –Uncut

The Call and Response self-titled debut album from 2001 on Emperor Norton Records gained international recognition and received positive reviews from National Public Radio and the Washington Post. Reviewers drew comparisons to the Sea and Cake, Heart, the Jackson 5, and Stereolab.

For more information please visit www.callandresponsemusic.com or badmanrecordingco.com<