A Classic Education- Call it Blazing Review

Call it "slightly warming"...

A Classic Education - Call it Blazing (2011) – 7.0 / 10.0
Lefse Records

Formed in Italy, A Classic Education is a true multinational effort (well, I guess ‘multi’ can mean two) fronted by Canadian John Clancy, along with several Italian mates, whom he’d met while colleging on the continent. After a few singles, an EP and a mini-album, the band has released their debut long player, Call it Blazing. While that title may seem to imply some badassery in the offing, the album is really a thoughtful affair of relatively tasteful indie pop that sometimes dips its toe, only the pinky mind you, into more rockin’ territory.

Clancy’s vocals here are fairly utilitarian, in indie terms, but that is less a criticism than it sounds, as his voice evinces a warm and inviting familiarity, in a boyish hipster kinda way. The album opens with a song snippet, ‘Work it Out’, with Clancy’s reverb-heavy singing over increasingly heavy guitar feedback, which implies something sinister that the album never quite approaches on the ensuing 11 tracks. It's as though he was actually working out some semi-literal demons in preparation for the sweet , poppy velvetiness on the rest of Call it Blazing.

The songs on Call it Blazing are a mixed bag, although that mixture falls between ‘forgotten a few seconds after it’s done’ and ‘pretty danged interesting’. "Spin me Round" and "Can You Feel the Backwash" are the standouts here, the former of which builds slowly into an emboldened guitar arpeggio before closing on a mysterious note, and the latter, which would not feel completely out of place in one Dinosaur Jr.’s mellower, less flashy moments. It would be a mistake to say Call it Blazing is anything approaching a failure, but it’d be equally wrong to call it amazing as the album, and by extension, the band just don’t do enough to grab you by the collar and give a little shake. What it winds up being is a modest success, a hint at things to come, and fine start. Which is most emphatically NOT damning with faint praise.