[review 2004: the honourable mentions]

Winds Take No Shape is a sharp left turn for Call And Response, whose last outing was chock full of twee-pop and indie funk. In the three years since their self-titled debut, Call And Response revamped their sound entirely, taking a more melancholy and nuanced approach. The boy-girl harmonies were dropped, and minor chords dominated the new material. The subject matter shifted from the joys of rollerskating and blowing bubbles to far more abstract concerns, and the overall mood is completely different. In short, Winds Take No Shape is a completely different album from Call And Response�so much so that Badman decided to release the demos Call And Response recorded for Emperor Norton to shed some light on how the band moved from point A to point B.

Winds Take No Shape feels as though it were painstakingly constructed note by note; every guitar pluck, every drum beat seems to have a meaning, a small part in holding the whole song together. This is especially evident on songs like “Colors Bleed” and “Station,” where the individual instruments seem to snap into crystal-clear focus, as if the band were playing in your own living room.

Winds Take No Shape is immaculately produced, almost to a fault�if there’s a problem with the album, it’s that the affair seems a bit sterile. This is partially due to the huge contrast with the almost-awkward performances on the original Kindercore version of Call And Response’s debut; there, the amateurish quality of the vocals and arrangements lent a juvenile energy to the music that was ultimately a benefit. But Winds Take No Shape is obviously a very different record, and the refined production helps to give the material an autumnal air. It essentially comes down to a matter of taste; for what the band is trying to do, the slower tempos and the restrained energy helps.

So, an accomplished second album, and perhaps a better album than Call And Response had a right to record. This is especially true considering the major stylistic shift. And yet it’s hard to be passionate about the album because it seems resolutely dispassionate. Still, Winds Take No Shape is a harbinger of good things to come for the band; it’ll be very interesting to see what they come up with next.