With his new album Next Year’s Ghost, Zachary Cale has solidified his position amongst the top rank of contemporary singer-songwriters. Taking shape during the COVID pandemic, the record also illuminates Cale’s versatility, as it shifts the instrumental focus to keyboards for the first time. Offering consistently robust songs and finding the composer in strong voice, the set is available now on vinyl and digital through ORG Music.
Learning that Zachary Cale essentially taught himself how to play piano during the COVID shutdown, and then, after he’d sharpened his abilities and (assumedly) raised his confidence, wrote the eight songs that shape Next Year’s Ghost, makes an already considerable achievement doubly impressive. A couple blind listens to the record left no inkling that Cale was a recent learner of the keys; instead, he sounded like he’d been adept for years and had simply chosen to complete his most recent batch of songs with the instrument.
Piano appealingly deepens the aura of the singer-songwriter that has long enveloped Cale’s work. Opener “Heart of Tin” leaves the impression of an artist who sat at the bench and formulated the melody across hours, days and weeks; Turns out, as Cale learned play, initially just engaging in a therapeutic act during a highly stressful time to be alive, patient song construction is exactly what happened.
Cale’s fundamental strength is songwriting, but his extensive discography thrives on how those compositions are realized; mid-way through “Heart of Tin,” the accompanying musicians shift into full-band gear, a long-established maneuver that avoids sounding stale through the inspired execution. Along with Cale, the core band features Shahzad Ismaily (Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog) on bass, Korg, Arp and mellotron, Uriah Theriault (Okkervil River) on electric guitar, and Jeremy Gustin (Woodsy Pride) on drums and percussion.
Along with Alfra Martini’s harmony vocals, additional instrumentation comes through Brent Arnold’s cello and Anni Rossi’s viola for three tracks, including “Fragile Line,” which gradually builds up to a gliding, shimmering emotionalism, and JR Bohannon’s pedal steel and Jill McKenna’s upright bass in “House on Fire,” their contributions formulating a ghostly hovering post-twang with a sturdy foundation.
To be clear, Cale’s not up to anything flashy on the keys here, but his execution is smart, coaxing just the right tone out of the Wurlitzer for “My Mutineer,” which is tinged with introspective late ’70s NYC soft-rock (the programmed rhythms are a sweet touch), and also in “Beyond Belief,” a track that’s steeped in ’60s Dylan-ist lyrical imagery.
Cale can conjure specific moods on the acoustic piano, as well, particularly in “Doom Loop,” the instrumental lead-in “Shatterstar,” an album standout that again taps into a ’70s sophisto-smooth vibe. With “Rough Devotion, Cale’s lyrics and his distinctively drowsy way of singing them work up Next Year’s Ghost to an intense conclusion. It’s a surprising and highly successful set from Zachary Cale, an artist whose work, while in a constant state of evolution, remains recognizably his own.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
